Governor Napolitano is the leader of the Arizona Democratic Party and a rising Democratic star nationally, but she supports at least one Republican for the state Senate — Sen. Slade Mead.

Asked whether she supports Mr. Mead in the state’s best-publicized primary, the Dist. 20 GOP contest in which Rep. John Huppenthal is trying to unseat Mr. Mead, she said, at her Aug. 18 press briefing, “Yes, I think it’s fair to say Senator Mead . . . has been supportive of things I believe will help prepare Arizona for the future.” The governor praised Mr. Mead specifically for his support of education.

“It has been acrimonious,” Ms. Napolitano told reporters. “The voters in the district have a clear choice between two candidates who have very different views of the world.”

Mr. Huppenthal told Arizona Capitol Times he has a 2-1 lead over Mr. Mead according to his own internal polling and said, when informed of the governor’s statement, “They’re desperate and going for broke. She has plunged the state into a $1 billion deficit as we speak, and he’s covering for her.”

For his part, Mr. Mead responded, when asked about the governor’s support, “That’s a ridiculous question. Who do you think she would support — Mr. Huppenthal?”

Mr. Huppenthal has hammered away at the incumbent senator throughout the campaign as a promoter of new taxes and deficit spending, saying he supports a billion-dollar tax increase.

Mr. Mead calls that charge “ridiculous” and said earlier, “He’s probably going to accuse me of shooting Kennedy.”

No Democrat is running for the Senate in Dist. 20, so the winner of the Sept. 7 Republican primary will take the seat when the new Senate takes office in January. —