GOP should thank Barack Obama

It's time to send a gift basket to President-elect Barack Obama.

Obama's pick of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to head the Department of Homeland Security means a Republican will move into the governor's office next year.

Under the state's constitution, the next in line if a governor leaves office in Arizona is the Secretary of State. That would be Jan Brewer, a Republican.

Napolitano is expected to step down as governor in late January or early February after the U.S. Senate confirms her cabinet nomination.

So Barack Obama managed to do what voters were not able to: Return the Arizona governor's seat to Republican control.

Napolitano, 51, is serving her second four-year term as governor of Arizona. Brewer, 64, has been involved in politics most of her life and served more than two decades in the Arizona state legislature.

It's not clear whether Brewer would want a full term as governor, but the GOP should have the advantage in taking back the governor's seat in 2010.