In Prop. 100 victory, a campaign sees momentum
May 19, 2010AZ Central - Political Insider
Casey Newton
As election returns were rolling in last night, an aide to Gov. Jan Brewer recalled a meeting two months ago in conservative Yavapai County. Brewer was addressing a group of staunch Republicans, and they treated her -- here the aide looked for the right words -- "like dog poop."
After last night, you can say goodbye to dog poop. And say hello to the alpha dog.
The twin engines of SB 1070 and Proposition 100 have transformed the governor's race, taking a candidate dismissed as "toast" by the intelligentsia just a few months ago into the favorite in her primary.
SB 1070 may be the bigger story nationally, and it couldn't have happened without Brewer's signature. But the law itself had been kicking around the Legislature for years, and Sen. Russell Pearce was the driving force behind it.
Prop. 100, though -- that one belongs to Brewer.
Long before 1070 launched her to fame, the sales-tax increase was Brewer's signature policy initiative. She pushed it for over a year, making at least four major pushes in the Legislature to get a tax referral on the ballot before lawmakers finally relented.
On Wednesday she got what she had been looking for. And she soaked up the moment.
"Arizona has spoken today," she told the audience at Madison Middle School. "They showed us that our faith in them was well placed. And I never doubted them."
After her remarks, as the crowd cheered, Brewer was beaming. "You are all wonderful," she said softly into the microphone, overcome with emotion.
As she spoke, Brewer played down the political significant of the measure's passage.
"This has never been about me," she said. "This has always been about Arizona. It's about all of us together."
But those remarks were belied by the presence of her entire campaign team, around 50 red-shirted Brewer for Governor volunteers, and video cameras rumored to be filming the event for a forthcoming television advertisement.
Even the campaign team seemed a little star-struck by all the attention given the governor, whose approval ratings in March were hovering around 22 percent. Doug Cole, a campaign spokesman, has been taking calls from George Stephanopoulos and the CBS Evening News. Kim Sabow, a governor's office spokeswoman, has been chatting with Greta Van Susteren.
Suddenly everyone wants to know what Brewer thinks. And she's happy to tell them.
The governor, who has struggled at times in answering reporters' questions, was calm and confident during a series of television stand-ups last night.
When someone in the gaggle asked her whether she had struggled with the decision to push for a tax increase, Brewer allowed that she had. But once she had made her mind up, Brewer said, "I never looked back."
The campaign team was all smiles at the end of the night, as they looked at results showing the tax increase had won majority approval in 14 of 15 Arizona counties. They read aloud and laughed at a tweet from PR mastermind Jason Rose, who said presumptive Democratic nominee Terry Goddard was "now relegated to [a] rosary bead strategy."
Someone on Brewer's team recalled her Republican opponent Dean Martin saying earlier this year that "the real primary is in May."
The May primary is now over. And Jan Brewer won it.
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