Arizona Gov. Brewer endorses Mitt Romney

by Keith Laing - 02/26/12 2:54 PM ET

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Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) endorsed Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination ahead of her state’s Tuesday primary.

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Brewer said Romney would give Republicans the best chance to defeat President Obama in his bid for re-election in the fall.

“I have had my debate there in Arizona and I have looked over all the wonderful people that have put them up for nomination and I have decided that I’m going to publicly endorse Mitt Romney,” Brewer said during the interview.

{mosads}”I think he’s the man that can carry the day,” she continued. “I’m going to get out there and work as hard as I know how to make sure that he wins Arizona, and work in other places of our country to see that he wins those places too.”

Brewer, who has been in Washington for the National Governor’s Association’s winter meeting, told reporters this weekend she would likely make her preference among the GOP presidential candidates before Tuesday “if I get all my answers.”

Brewer is popular among conservative Republican voters because of her stance on immigration issues in her state and a widely-publicized altercation with President Obama when he visited Arizona.

Brewer got into an argument with Obama about the way she portrayed him in her book, and she was photographed and videotaped pointing her finger in the president’s face on the tarmac of the airport where Air Force One landed in Arizona.

In announcing her decision to endorse Romney, Brewer said the former Massachusetts governor had the right temperament and experience necessary to be president.

“He handles himself very, very well,” she said. “But more than that he has that pro-business background, and he has that political history that I think that he would serve America best of all of the candidates. I think Mitt is by far the person that can go in and win.”

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Romney has been locked in a race with former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in both Arizona and Michigan, but recent polls show him holding a slight lead heading into the final stretch of campaigning in the states.

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