Randy Pullen

If Barack Obama were to beat John McCain, there is a very good chance Governor Janet Napolitano could be offered a job in the administration.  While it is very unlikely she would be offered the VEEP spot, there is a strong possibility her early loyalty would be rewarded with a cabinet position.

If Napolitano were to move on to Washington, Arizona’s political landscape would be tossed on its head overnight.  Look into the Inside Edge crystal ball as we predict what that week’s Winners and Losers would look like.  

If Barack Obama were to beat John McCain, there is a very good chance Governor Janet Napolitano could be offered a job in the administration.  While it is very unlikely she would be offered the VEEP spot, there is a strong possibility her early loyalty would be rewarded with a cabinet position.

If Napolitano were to move on to Washington, Arizona’s political landscape would be tossed on its head overnight.  Look into the Inside Edge crystal ball as we predict what that week’s Winners and Losers would look like.  

Winners

Jan Brewer
Not only would the secretary of state become Governor Jan Brewer overnight, she would then be in office as a sitting incumbent come 2010.

Dennis Burke
The governor’s Chief of Staff would almost certainly end up as the Chief of Staff to the U.S. Attorney General or Department of Homeland Security and would be on his way to D.C. 

Leezie Kim
Kim, who recently moved from private practice to become the governor’s general counsel, would be on a short list for a U.S. Attorney spot.

Pro-life movement
With Napolitano out of the way the pro-life community could start moving legislation forward with hope of it being signed by the governor. 

State Republican Party
If the party holds both the Senate and the House in November, the party would have total control over state government and could use it to their advantage in fundraising. 

Losers

Gubernatorial hopefuls on the Republican side
Mary Peters, Andrew Thomas and any other prospective candidates would now be facing an incumbent from their own party.  While someone may still step up to the plate and challenge Brewer, their job becomes a whole lot harder.

Randy Pullen
With Brewer in charge and gearing up for re-election she would more than likely want someone she trusts completely running the office that will be out to protect her and prevent a primary.

Terry Goddard
The Attorney General would become the highest elected Democratic official in the state, but assuming he is the nominee in 2010 he now has to challenge a sitting governor.  He would be trying to do something that hasn’t been done since 1966, unseat a sitting governor in an election.  And it should be noted that governor who lost re-election was Samuel Goddard, Terry’s father.

LGBT community
They lose the strongest advocate they have had in Arizona and would likely be facing a rollback of Napolitano’s executive order banning discrimination in state government based on sexual orientation.

Jim Weiers
It may seem weird to place a Republican Speaker of the House as a loser when a Republican takes over the governor’s office, but it’s true.  Right now Weiers gains his power as the leader of the opposition party.  With a Republican governor Weiers would lose that power and for the most part would need to follow the governor’s lead.

More Inside Edge

A report by RedArizona that Nathan Sproul is being relieved of his position as an adviser and fundraiser on state Sen. Tim Bee's campaign to unseat U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords(AZ-8) is unfounded, according to a spokesman for Bee.

"There's nothing to those reports," said Tom Dunn, Bee's communications director. Dunn told PolitickerAZ.com that Sproul, a former Arizona Republican Party chairman and past Arizona Christian Coalition leader, was remaining on the campaign, and that his position remains unchanged.

RedArizona reported Sproul's exit late Thursday night, quoting "sources close to the senator" as saying: "Nathan Sproul will not be playing a direct role in the campaign." The sources told RedState that Sproul was leaving to work for a ballot initiative, "Stop Hiring Illegals," that would overturn an employer-sanctions law that Bee helped pass.

Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen appeared with the sole remaining challenger to Sen. John McCain's presidential nomination at an event in Phoenix last night. Though this has rankled some Arizona Republicans who perceive disloyalty toward Sen. McCain in the appearance, both Pullen and the Paul campaign say it was simply a show of Republican solidarity, rather than a sly rebuke to the presumptive nominee.

Given the checkered history between Pullen and Sen. McCain, some Republicans questioned the wisdom of the chairman appearing with Paul, whose supporters have often been vocal in their opposition to McCain. However, Andre Campos, Paul's Arizona director, took pains to alleviate fears that Paul supporters will do anything to embarrass McCain or the Republican Party.

The Arizona Republican Party is fuming over what it sees as Governor Janet Napolitano's latest blow to anti-illegal immigration efforts.

In an executive order signed Monday, Napolitano redirected over $1 million slated to go to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office for immigration enforcement. The funds will be used instead for a task force she's appointed to serve tens of thousands of outstanding warrants statewide.

Coupled with her veto of a bill that would have enabled county and municipal law enforcement agencies to have greater cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Arizona Republican Party is making its displeasure known, and accusing the governor of refusing to enforce laws and obstructing Sheriff Arpaio's efforts.

The question, though, is how far are frustrated Republicans willing to go to stop Gov. Napolitano?    

I'm issuing a special challenge to our PolitickerAZ.com readers. The first person that can email a VERIFIABLE photo of Lee Adam Gentry to me at rob.tornoe@politicker.com wins a signed print of this cartoon.

Anyone expecting a repeat of Nevada's Republican Party Convention today was sorely mistaken. Despite an effort to secure the election of supporters of Rep. Ron Paul as delegates to the Republican National Convention in September, the "Unity Slate," crafted by the party to ensure that only delegates who fully support the state's favorite son would be represent Arizona in Minneapolis this September, was elected with almost no changes.

Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy PullenToday in a hit on Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen used the recent endorsement of 1972 Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern to decry Obama's anti-Iraq War stance. In the piece, Pullen claimed that Americans desire a "victorious and responsible end to the conflict in Iraq," painting Obama as "out of touch" and "irresponsible" for wanting to withdraw combat forces.

Yet numerous polls indicate that Obama's view is very much in line with the majority of Americans.

This has been the week of the GOP going after Democrats over rising fuel costs, trying to marry that party to consumer woes. The Democrats have responded, but now Emily Bittner, spokeswoman for the Arizona Democratic Party, is lending her voice.

Republicans claim the Democratic leadership in Congress is failing to lead on this issue, and furthermore advocating a stance that will lead to higher gas prices. Democrats countered today with a list of specific legislation that they say works to achieve the object - with a note from Bittner saying Republicans care more about Big Oil than the middle class. 

It is the latest issue to serve as a battleground for the parties in this extraordinarily consequential election year.

As gasoline prices creep indefatigably toward the $4.00/gal. threshold, Republicans are making a concerted effort to shift public consternation over pain at the pump onto Democratic lawmakers and presidential candidates, including Reps. Gabrielle Giffords and Harry Mitchell, and Sen. Barack Obama.

This week signaled the beginning of an offensive, from Capitol Hill to the Copper Dome, in which Republicans in D.C. and Arizona - and everywhere else in between - will try to make the issue of rising fuel costs a loser for Democrats.