Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer flounders at start and end of debate

UPDATE 9/3/10: Jan Brewer says she won't be participating in any more debates. The Arizona Daily Star reports:

Incumbent Republican Jan Brewer said Thursday she has no intention of participating in any more events with Democrat Terry Goddard. She said the only reason she debated him on Wednesday is she had to to qualify for more than $1.7 million in public funds for her campaign.

I don't believe that things come out in proper context in an adversarial atmosphere," she said. And Brewer said she is available for interviews.

Meanwhile, Brewer has recanted the beheadings claim that she avoided commenting on after the debate. (The governor had said on local television that "our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert ... that have been beheaded.")

"That was an error, if I said that," she told reporters Friday.

Brewer said she was referring to beheadings in Mexico that could spread to the United States.

"I misspoke, but you know, let me be clear, I am concerned about the border region because it continues to be reported in Mexico that there's a lot of violence going on and we don't want that going into Arizona."

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At last night's gubernatorial debate, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) appeared to be at a lost for words during her opening statement, leading to some long, awkward pauses:

Brewer also stumbled at the end of the debate, when her Democratic opponent confronted her on a past statement.

"What is hurting us right now economically are statements, false statements made by Jan Brewer, about how Arizona has become so violent, that we are a place of fear, and we have beheadings in the desert," said Arizona Attorney Gen. Terry Goddard. (Dana Milbank wrote about Brewer's beheading claim in July.) Goddard called on Brewer to renounce the claim. She ignored the question, and did so again when asked by reporters on her way out of the room. Finally, questioned by multiple reporters, she just turned and left.