It was the first debate of the Arizona governor's race, and likely the last, as there's no way incumbent Republican Gov. Jan Brewer chances another disaster like this one.

It started out embarrassing enough:

Brewer, who has gained national notoriety for signing into law the country's toughest provisions for illegal immigrants, awkwardly paused twice during the opening statement of the Clean Elections Debate broadcast on the state's PBS affiliate. "I have ... done so much and I just cannot believe that we have changed everything since I've become your governor in the last 600 days. Arizona has been brought back from its abyss," Brewer said, after appearing to lose her train of thought. Then, after saying, "We have cut the budget, we have balanced the budget and we are moving forward. We have done everything that we could possibly do," the governor paused for a 10 seconds — an eternity in a live televised debate — before looking down at her notes.

Video of that giggly 10-second pause:

Ouch.

But even worse was the substance, as the local media gangs up on her for her refusal to admit that her alarmist story about beheadings in the Arizona desert is bullshit:

The transcript is below the fold, but needless to say, it's brutal. Her refusal to own up to her misstatement is inexplicable, generating hostility from the local press and stepping all over her message. But maybe that's good for Brewer, as it's one less question about her blatant conflict of interest in signing SB 1070:

Gov. Jan Brewer took center stage last Tuesday night after she officially clenched the Republican nomination. Standing just behind her was a man most Arizonans would not recognize. He’s Chuck Coughlin, Brewer’s campaign chairman, policy adviser and a lobbyist for the largest private prison company in the country. And he’s one of two people in the Brewer administration with ties to Corrections Corporation of America. The other administration member is communications director Paul Senseman, a former CCA lobbyist. His wife still lobbies for the company [...] Isaacs said private prison companies have been buying influence in Arizona politics for years. The number of private prisons and jails operating across the state shows the result of that influence, he said. Currently, there are at least 12 for-profit prison, jail and detention facilities in Arizona. Isaacs said the state has something else that attracts these companies. “The other Holy Grail, if you will, of private prison construction is immigrant detention,” Isaac said.

Corrections Corporation of America holds the contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to lock up illegal immigrants picked up in Arizona. Tough immigration laws like Arizona's SB 1070 could send thousands of new bodies its way, and millions of dollars.

Update: Flashback to New Mexico Democratic House candidate Patty Madrid's debate meltdown in 2006. She went from front-runner to loser.