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Three months ago, Arizona GOP Gov. Jan Brewer was in a fight for her political life. Her support for a sales tax increase had alienated her from her party, her approval ratings were in the dumps and she faced a handful of primary opponents looking to deny her nomination to a full term in office.
Today, however, Brewer’s star is on the rise. Her primary challengers have dropped out, she leads comfortably in the polls and her endorsement is highly sought after outside Arizona’s borders, where her stature is growing among conservatives.
It’s a remarkable reversal of fortune, and it’s one largely due to one thing — her signing of the state’s controversial new immigration law, a measure that she didn’t even publicly embrace until after its April passage.
“This is similar to a Sarah Palin-type rise in stature nationally,” said Republican Chuck Gray, the state Senate majority leader. “Prior to the signing of [Senate Bill] 1070, [Brewer] had no more notoriety than any other governor in the country.”
Brewer’s national backers aren’t concerned about what point she jumped on the bandwagon. They just know her as the face of Arizona’s illegal immigration resistance.
“Gov. Brewer is a leader and well-recognized and respected for her decisions in Arizona, particularly on immigration,” said Cinamon Watson, a spokeswoman for Colorado GOP Senate candidate Jane Norton, whom Brewer endorsed this week.
The fact that Brewer, a former secretary of state who assumed the governorship in January 2009 when Janet Napolitano resigned to become homeland security secretary, has developed a national profile in such a short period of time is a testament to the fury surrounding the state’s new immigration law.
She practically has a standing weekly appearance on Fox News host Greta Van Susteren’s show. On Tuesday evening, Brewer was
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