PHOENIX ‑‑ Gov. Jan Brewer coasted to an easy victory Tuesday in her primary race.

Gov. Jan Brewer greets supporters Tuesday night at Arizona Republican Party headquarters in Phoenix. (Capitol Media Services photo by Howard Fischer)

The incumbent easily outpaced Matt Jette, the last active Republican in the race. Buz Mills, who suspended his campaign but remained an official candidate, also trailed far behind. And even Dean Martin got some support even though he pulled out of the race and none of the votes for him count.

But Brewer won't commit to debating her general election foes any more than legally necessary.

"We're certainly going to do the Clean Elections debate,'' Brewer said Tuesday after casting her ballot near her Glendale home. She doesn't have a choice in that: Brewer committed to one debate in the primary and one in the general election by virtue of getting more than $1.7 million in public funds for both contests.

That debate is this coming Wednesday in Phoenix.

"And then we'll move forward and see what happens,'' Brewer said.

Democrat Terry Goddard, unopposed in Tuesday's primary, wants six debates with the incumbent around the state and on different topics. That demand is not surprising: Goddard is trailing Brewer badly in the polls, with a Rasmussen Reports survey last month giving her a 19‑point edge.

On Tuesday night, Brewer set the stage for the next two-plus months with a broadside attack on Goddard.

In a speech at Arizona Republican Party headquarters, she equated Goddard with President Obama and former Gov. Janet Napolitano.

"President Obama is doing to this country exactly what Janet Napolitano did to Arizona, spending beyond our means, growing entitlement programs, and being the voice of organized labor,'' Brewer said. "Arizonans know my general election opponent is cut from the very same cloth as the president and the former governor.''

Brewer went in to Tuesday's primary as the poster child for political resurrection.

Never elected governor in the first place, she assumed the role in January 2009 after Democrat Napolitano quit to become homeland security chief in the Obama administration.

A year ago, the Behavior Research Center found only 22 percent of those questioned rated her performance as governor as favorable.

In January, Rasmussen showed Brewer wouldn't even win the GOP nomination, or, if she managed to survive that, a head‑to‑head with Goddard.

What changed all that was the issue of immigration.

In April, Brewer signed into law what is billed as the toughest state statutes in the nation aimed at combatting illegal immigration. That provoked a flood of lawsuits against it and, just last month, a decision by a federal judge blocking key provisions from taking effect until there can be a full‑blown trial.

All that has done, however, is propel her profile even higher.

She got national attention with her message that Arizona needed to act because of the failure of the federal government to secure the border.

She even carried that message into her campaign, with billboards showing Brewer in a 1940‑style poster with her sleeves rolled up, making a muscle, captioned "Doing the job the feds won't do.'' And if there's any doubt about who she blames, the O in "won't'' is done in the design of the campaign symbol used by Barack Obama.

The governor even got Obama to consent to face‑to‑face meeting to hear her complaints. And while she walked away saying he still wasn't paying attention, the president eventually did order 1,200 National Guard soldiers moved to the border, including 524 in Arizona.

She repeated that theme in her Tuesday night speech.

"I demanded that our southern border and our law-abiding people can be secure'' the governor said. "And I think -- what do you think -- Washington has heard us.''

Brewer also proved far more adept than most of her Republican challengers in reading the mood of voters. She backed a temporary one‑cent hike in state sales taxes to balance the budget, which voters approved in May by a wide margin; foes who opposed the tax, including Martin, Mills and John Munger, dropped by the wayside, though Mills never formally pulled out of the race.

That left only political newcomer Jette, with little funding, in the primary, against the $707,447 Brewer got in public dollars.

She is in line for another $1,061,171 for the general election, as is Goddard. That commits the both of them to next Wednesday's debate.

Four years ago, Napolitano, as the incumbent, agreed to three debates with Republican challenger Len Munsil ‑‑ he actually had sought 10 ‑‑ though only two came off. Brewer, however, won't make a commitment to even two.

"There's a good possibility we might do that,'' Brewer said. "We might do two or we might do three, we might do four.''

But she didn't dispute that, with her 20‑point lead over Goddard, she might just do one.

"I'm going to be out there, working really hard, campaigning,'' Brewer said, "but certainly continuing governing the state, getting ready for the next legislative session.''