Goddard thrust into governor’s race after GOP field narrows

Terry Goddard greeted the news of Buz Mills’ exit from the governor’s race with an enthusiastic proclamation.

“Game on. Sixteen weeks to change Arizona,” the Democratic attorney general wrote on his Twitter account.

Goddard, who is unopposed for the Democratic nomination, has taken his share of shots at Brewer over the past several months, and Brewer has fired back. But prior to Mills’ withdrawal from the race on July 13, and state Treasurer Dean Martin’s departure just four days earlier, Brewer was largely distracted by her GOP challengers.

Now, Brewer can turn her full attention to her November opponent, and though the general election season doesn’t technically start until late August, Goddard said he’ll be doing the same.

RELATED: Mills’ money no match for S1070 and An early contender, Martin fades amid Brewer’s momentum

“The general election campaign started today,” Goddard said on July 14, the day after Mills pulled out of the race. “The intensity’s obviously going to be greater.”

Some Democrats have been grumbling about the low profile Goddard has taken so far and what they view as a lack of aggressiveness in the campaign. While Goddard said he doesn’t think there’s anything he should have done differently, he said the nature of the campaign will change now that the general election has begun.

“I don’t think they’ll be at all disappointed with the pace or the intensity of our effort going forward. A lot of what we’ve done has been behind the scenes and by way of preparation. And now we’re able to do a great deal more,” he said. “I think they’ll be very, very happy and supportive of it.”

Goddard’s campaign has largely been defined by inactivity and extreme caution, said Fred Solop, the director of Northern Arizona University’s political science department. But with the Republican primary over, and media attention now focused on the general election, that is no longer an option, he said.

“From Goddard’s point of view, he really needs to come out of the starting gate now,” Solop said.

Brewer has staked out her turf in terms of what she’s running on, but Goddard has yet to define himself, said pollster Bruce Merrill.

“I think he’s got to come up with the Goddard plan for the future of Arizona and really tell people what he would do in that area,” said Merrill, who runs the Cronkite/Eight Poll.

When Goddard opened his campaign, he said his goals were to improve education and help diversify Arizona’s economy. With the general election now starting, Goddard said he would roll out his jobs plan soon, and said his economic policies would hinge on three key components:

· Target new research and technology jobs.
· A tax and incentives plan that would help Arizona compete with other states for those jobs.
· Establish governor as the “point person” for seeking out new businesses and jobs for the state.

“Up until now, the emphasis has been on the Republican primary. But I’m relatively sure that will change and that we’ll now be looking ahead to the general. That gives me more chance to discuss what we should be talking about in terms of jobs and the economy and the state budget,” Goddard said. “We’ve lost 300,000 (jobs) pretty much on (Brewer’s) watch.”

Chuck Coughlin, a top adviser to Brewer, said the governor’s campaign won’t change much now that the primary is essentially over. Brewer’s criticism of Goddard has primarily focused on his lack of proposals for solving the budget crisis that has defined most of her tenure as governor. Brewer’s campaign website includes a chart listing her opponents’ “days without a budget plan,” a reference to the protracted budget battle that ended in March. With Martin, Mills and former Arizona GOP Chairman John Munger out of the picture, Goddard is now alone on the chart.

“The campaign will continue to do what the campaign has done,” Coughlin said. “It’s never about your opponent. It’s always about what you do.”

S1070, Arizona’s strict new illegal immigration law, presents several problems for Goddard. Conversely, it breathed new life into Brewer’s struggling campaign. By signing it, Brewer’s success in the Republican primary went from questionable to assured. A July 14 Rocky Mountain Poll showed her with 57 percent of the vote, compared to Mills’ 12 and Martin’s 9.

The other issue is that Goddard opposed the popular law while it was under debate in the Legislature. And though he urged the U.S. Department of Justice not to sue Arizona and even vowed to defend the state in court – Brewer nevertheless removed him from the cases – many Democrats have voiced concerns that the Obama administration’s opposition to S1070 could be a drag on their campaigns.

Goddard acknowledged that overcoming the post-S1070 surge in Brewer’s popularity would be difficult. But he touted his long-running efforts as attorney general to battle drug cartels and human smugglers from Mexico, and said Brewer has done little to protect Arizona from the criminal organizations whose violence sometimes spills across the U.S.-Mexico border. Goddard called himself a strong advocate for comprehensive immigration reform

“I think that we need to focus our law enforcement efforts far more than we ever have on the cartels. I have not heard any leadership from her in that area,” he said.

Coughlin indicated that the immigration issue won’t fade away if Brewer has anything to say about it, and chided Goddard for taking the endorsements of organizations like the Service Employees International Union, which is boycotting Arizona over S1070.

“It seems like he’s starting off on a bad foot,” Coughlin said.

Merrill said Goddard must find a way to succeed where Martin and Mills failed – shift voters’ attention from illegal immigration to the economy and jobs. That will be difficult with the limited campaign funds he, as well as Brewer, get from the Citizens Clean Elections Commission.

“With all the momentum on 1070, I think she’ll come out after the primary with probably a solid lead, but not insurmountable,” Merrill said.

Attorney Sam Coppersmith, a former congressman and influential figure in Democratic politics, said Brewer and her post-S1070 bump look formidable now, but the illegal immigration issue may not have the staying power Republicans are banking on. After all, he said, before the bill passed the Legislature, most observers thought the economy would dominate the election – much as Martin and Mills presumed.

“I think three months ago people would’ve said it’s all about the economy. Now you have to pay people to talk about the economy,” Coppersmith said. “On the other hand, I have never ceased to be amazed by the attention span of the American voter.”