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World War II jolted the U.S. out of its last massive financial crisis, but with no global war to propel a recovery this time states are scrambling to staunch the red ink splashing across their budget sheets.

Most states are swimming in red ink, but Arizona is on the verge of drowning in it. Federal stimulus dollars intended to prop up government revenues and help states weather the economic storm have been spent, and the Grand Canyon State is facing deficits that could reach $3 billion in each of the next three years.

The governor’s actions on the state budget drew jeers from both Republicans and Democrats, but for wildly different reasons. House Speaker Kirk Adams and Senate President Bob Burns, both Republicans, said Gov. Jan Brewer increased state spending by more than $350 million with her line-item-vetoes of cuts to K-12 education and the Department of Economic Security, which provides benefits for Arizona’s poor.

Blaming “extremists” from both parties for holding up the budget process and threatening the state with bankruptcy, Gov. Jan Brewer on Sept. 4 signed large swaths of the budget that she said will help the state “weather the storm” until the next legislative session. But she vetoed parts of the main spending bill, including $300 million in cuts to K-12 schools and DES. She also vetoed the bill that included the equalization property tax.

During her 27 years in public office, Gov. Jan Brewer has never lost an election. But if she runs for a full term in 2010, some are predicting that streak could come to an inglorious end in the Republican primary.

The Arizona Constitution requires the enactment of a balanced budget for the upcoming fiscal year before July 1. But two months into the fiscal 2010, the budget in place was not signed or balanced, even on paper.

Electing a governor and lieutenant governor as a ticket would provide greater consistency and be truer to the voice of voters when a governor leaves midterm, Secretary of State Ken Bennett said Sept. 1.

Bipartisan budget talks took place Sept. 1 - but only between Senate leaders and the governor.

The day before her scheduled departure for a border governors' conference in Mexico, Gov. Jan Brewer announced that she will stay in Arizona to continue working on the protracted budget crisis.

Last-ditch budget negotiations between Republicans and Democrats appear to have fallen apart, which makes it unlikely Gov. Jan Brewer will see her sales-tax-increase proposal on a ballot any time soon.