Brewer gains support, repeats `no more debates'
by Jim Cross/KTAR and KTAR.com (September 9th, 2010 @ 5:12pm)
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PHOENIX -- Gov. Jan Brewer, buoyed by a rise in support despite what she termed a "brain freeze" in her first debate with Democratic challenger Terry Goddard, has reaffirmed there will be no more faceoffs during the campaign.

"They know what Terry Goddard stands for and they know what Jan Brewer stands for, so I'm going to take my message and my information and my plans for the future out to the people in a different venue," Brewer said Thursday.

Her comment came a day after the Rasmussen Poll said Brewer gained three points although her performance in the debate was widely criticized.

"I said long before the first debate that that would be the one that was done -- the one that was required by the Clean Elections Commission -- and that has been done and we will move forward," Brewer said.

Rasmussen's survey of likely Arizona voters following the Sept. 1 televised debate shows 60 percent support the Republican governor while 38 percent support Goddard, the current state attorney general.

Brewer drew wide criticism and comments for a 16-second lapse during her opening statements, when she was at a loss for words and looked down, wringing her hands and giggling nervously. She said afterward that she is just human and lost her train of thought.

Before the debate, Rasmussen showed Brewer with a 57 percent to 38 percent lead over Goddard.

Tuesday night's survey showed that voters are aware of the debate. Eighty-five percent said they had followed new stories about Brewer's performance, 47 percent of those said they had followed "very closely." Fifty-one percent said Brewer's debate gaffe was "not very" or "not at all" important to them.

Scott Rasmussen had an explanation. "In a family, we feel free to pick on our siblings, but when an outsider does, we pull together as a family. That seems to be the case in Arizona. Part of Brewer's appeal clearly is her signing of and defense of the immigration law. But another part of her appeals is that a lot of people in Arizona don't like their governor and their state being picked on by outsiders."

The latest survey included 500 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

"You would expect there to be some movement unless Governor Brewer has such solid support, that it's unshakable," Richard Herra, associate professor of Arizona State University's School of Politics and Global Studies told ABC-15.
Brewer's unshaken popularity was attributed to SB1070, the immigration law and her opposition to the new federal health care bill.

Goddard supports the health care bill and is against the immigration law.

Herra said as long as Brewer's campaign manager keeps her out of debates and away from the media, there is little chance of her making any mistakes that could hurt her in November.

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