Brewer says no more debates

Gov. Jan Brewer said the Sept. 1 gubernatorial debate will be the only one in which she will participate. (Photo by Evan Wyloge/Arizona Capitol Times)

The first debate between Gov. Jan Brewer and Terry Goddard will be their last.

In a Sept. 2 interview on KTAR radio, Brewer said she would not participate in any more debates with Goddard, her Democratic rival in the general election. The announcement came one day after Democrats panned her performance in a Clean Elections debate the night before.

“I think people know what we stand for,” Brewer told interviewer Bruce St. James, noting that she and Goddard have both held public office since the early 1980s.

Goddard, who had challenged Brewer to six additional debates, kept pressing the governor.

“It is our responsibility to give Arizonans clear information that will allow them to exercise their fundamental right to make an informed decision about who should lead our state into the future.  Arizonans deserve more than a single discussion of the issues we face,” Goddard wrote in a Sept. 2 letter to Brewer.

Brewer had resisted Goddard’s proposal for additional debates before the Sept. 1 face-off, but didn’t rule out the possibility of at least one more. Brewer campaign aide Chuck Coughlin scoffed at the notion, saying Goddard had a greater need for debates than the governor.

“It’s like Matt Jette saying he wants do debate us eight times,” Coughlin said several days before the Sept. 1 debate, referencing an obscure candidate who challenged Brewer in the GOP primary. “I don’t have to create a podium for Terry Goddard to remake himself on. He can go do that on his own time.”