As the 2013 legislative session stretches past the 100-day mark and Gov. Jan Brewer struggles for dwindling Republican votes on her top agenda item, the Ninth Floor is redoubling its efforts to attract GOP votes for Medicaid expansion.

The federal government has told Arizona that it will not be able to continue cuts to its Medicaid program beyond the end of the year if it hopes to receive federal funding for a voter-approved expansion of the program.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is bringing her Medicaid expansion charm offensive back to the Capitol as her staff continues to negotiate with legislative leaders who hold the key to bringing the proposal to a vote.

Limits on how the AHCCCS director would be able to use the unprecedented power provided under Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid expansion plan have eased some worries, but not all.

One of two hospitals that held out support for Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid expansion plan out of concerns the proposed hospital tax would cost more than they would get back is officially on board.

After Yavapai County jumped on board, three other county governments officially backed Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposal to expand Medicaid.

Gov. Jan Brewer forcefully declared that her proposal to expand the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System to hundreds of thousands of new patients is a pro-life plan. As a pro-life governor, she said, she will not sit idly by while people suffer. Since then, opponents of her plan have taken up the pro-life mantle in the Legislature.

Once again, Randy Pullen is coming to Gov. Jan Brewer’s defense at a time when she needs allies on the right.Pullen, the former chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, penned a letter urging Republicans to support Brewer’s plan to expand Medicaid coverage in accordance with President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

Do the math.

Those three words essentially sum up Gov. Jan Brewer’s core argument in favor of expanding the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state’s Medicaid program. She repeats them at every press event, every interview and every plea for support.

One source close to Brewer told our reporter that the core sentiment of Brewer’s letter this week to PCs was emblematic of the way she approaches public service – and though it was sent to the PCs, its message is aimed in many ways at GOP legislators.