Republican legislators facing a backlash from the conservative right for approving the expansion of Medicaid tapped into a vast network of supporters to easily outraise colleagues and opponents last year.

The writing has been on the wall for a while, but now it’s official – Medicaid expansion won’t be on the ballot next November.

Sunday’s Ted Nugent concert at Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix was expected to be a bonanza for the URAPC referendum organizers. In an email to supporters on Friday, URAPC organizer Christine Bauserman called the concert “a free-for-all” and said the group was hoping to have 100 people blanketing the parking lot “collecting signatures from every single concert goer.”

The push to refer Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid expansion plan to the ballot began in earnest as opponents of the bill rallied at the Capitol before fanning out across the Valley to collect signatures.

The protracted fight for Medicaid expansion likely won’t end with Gov. Jan Brewer’s signing of the historic legislation.