Posts Tagged ‘Jan Brewer’

Buz Mills has officially launched his campaign for governor with a $2 million splash. If Clean Elections matching funds are shelved by the courts, this $2 million, and the additional money he is expected to put into the race, gives him a huge money advantage over Governor Brewer and Treasurer Dean Martin.

He will need a lot of money to introduce himself to voters. Brewer and Martin have near universal name ID among Republican primary voters, so they can spend their money on messaging and voter ID.

Mills entry into the race will probably hurt Martin’s chances by adding another person to the mix of the “anti-Brewer” vote and Mills also greatly diminishes John Munger’s chances.

Congressman Scott Garrett is a true believer. He is one of the few in Congress who not only is a principled conservative, he actually acts like it all the time.

You’ll recall that Sen. Jon Kyl made the comment that the stimulus money wasn’t working.  In reaction, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood sent a letter to Governor Jan Brewer asking if she agreed with Sen. Kyl and told her he would be happy to withhold stimulus dollars from Arizona.  It was an outrageous letter and Scott Garrett takes LaHood to task for it.  This is a must see video passed on to me from a good friend of mine on the Hill.

After shedding 332 points upon Obama’s swearing-in yesterday, the market opened up just over 100 points today.  Not certain that it’s an Obama Bounce, or a Brewer Bounce, since Arizona’s Governor-since-yesterday-afternoon Jan Brewer has her inauguration today.

Incoming Governor Jan Brewer’s selection of Ken Bennett for Secretary of State is brilliant.  Not only does Bennett have a long and solid record of public service, he is smart, witty, personable and tireless.  In the 2010 election, he will be less Secretary of State and more “Vice-Governor”, running essentially as a running mate with Brewer – and they are a perfect electoral pair.

Bennett is the ideal surrogate for nearly every conceivable audience.  And I would expect he’s going to spend a fair amount of time on the road for the next two years. 

If anyone has any doubt about Brewer running for a full term in 2010, this appointment provides the clarity.  I know, she can’t actually talk yet about running in 2010 – she hasn’t even ascended to the 9^th floor officially, but the course has been mapped out, and it’s a straight line to the 2010 ballot.

Obviously, the selection of Bennett isn’t going to be much of a surprise to anyone.  He was on every speculators short list.  But it shows the Brewer is going to be governing from a position of strength, and she’s not afraid to have a strong, conservative leader standing next to her.

I was privately cheering for Bennett (I say privately, because no one really asked my opinion).  And since that cheering worked, I’m going to continue cheering for Rusty Bowers to be tapped as Director of Department of Environmental Quality.  Now that would send some shockwaves…