Carrie Prejean’s Loss has Miss USA Officials Mulling Whether to Make Miss Arizona “1st Runner-Up”

Donald Trump stripped Miss California, Carrie Prejean, of her crown today — and also of her status as 1st Runner-Up for the 2009 Miss USA Pageant.

The organization has already decided that Tammi Farrell, 1st Runner-Up for the Miss California pageant, will become Miss California. But what about the position of 1st Runner-Up for the Miss USA Pageant, a title that also implies a succession to Miss USA should the top beauty queen prove unable, or unworthy, of the crown.

Shouldn’t Miss Arizona, Alicia-Monique Blanco, the 2nd Runner-Up for the bigger contest, should move up in the ranks and become a proverbial heartbeat away from being Miss USA?

Pageant officials “are trying to figure that out now,” says a representative of the Miss Universe Organization — which runs the Miss USA contest — in Washington D.C.

The organization’s spokesperson, Lark-Marie Antón, wasn’t available, but the person who answered the phone told Valley Fever the officials should reach a decision shortly.

Blanco, 21, also found herself on the receiving end of criticism for a pageant question, though nothing as controversial as Prejean’s response about gay marriage. A video of Blanco giving a non-response to a question about universal health care was picked up by conservatives and random bloggers, drawing a short article in the Arizona Republic.