During the first, and perhaps only, debate among Arizona’s gubernatorial candidates on Wednesday night, there were plenty of fireworks as Gov. Jan Brewer, the Republican candidate, and Terry Goddard, the Democratic challenger, exchanged sharp words on immigration and the state’s budget woes.
But it was 13 seconds or so of silence that is being talked about more than anything else.
During her opening statement, Ms. Brewer began by defending her stewardship: “I have, uh, done so much and I just cannot believe that we have changed everything since I have become your governor in the last 600 days. Arizona has been brought back from its abyss. We have cut the budget. We have balanced the budget and we are moving forward. We have done everything we could possibly do.”
At that point, she stared down at the papers in front of her, clutched her hands together, laughed nervously but struggled to come up with anything more to say. It was painful to watch.
Finally, though, she recovered and said: “We have did what was right for Arizona.”
Despite her propensity to mangle her words, Ms. Brewer is considered the candidate to beat, largely because of the boost in popularity she has experienced since signing the state’s law cracking down on illegal immigrants. Mr. Goddard and two other lesser-known candidates are eager for more debates but Ms. Brewer’s camp has not yet agreed.
