Nevada hasn't seen the last of Gibbons vs. Titus

BYLINE: Molly Ball

REVIEW-JOURNAL

Erstwhile gubernatorial foes Jim Gibbons and Dina Titus will meet again.

Gibbons, the victorious Republican, is headed to the Governor's Mansion, while Titus, the losing Democrat, still has two years left in her current state Senate term. When the Legislature convenes in February, it will be new Governor Gibbons and past and present Senate Minority Leader Titus.

Neither candidate would agree to be interviewed Wednesday, leaving Nevada political watchers to guess at how Gibbons and Titus would approach their relationship with each other and with legislative power brokers.

Both gave indications as the election results became known Tuesday night of how they planned to go forward, however.

In his victory speech, Gibbons said he had "tremendous respect" for Titus and looked forward to working with her and other Democrats to create unity.

Titus, on the other hand, didn't give a concession speech at all. In interviews, she said she looked forward to returning to battle with Gibbons and helping Democrats "take the state back in 2008."

Both candidates' campaigns said they were spending the day resting and regrouping Wednesday.

But Gibbons' relationship with Titus isn't the most important issue, University of Nevada, Reno political scientist Eric Herzik said.

"The more critical relationships now are Jim Gibbons and Bill Raggio and Barbara Buckley, and those are relationships that are going to evolve," he said.

Raggio, the Reno Republican who leads the majority in the state Senate, has been a senator since 1973, the longest tenure in state history. Buckley, entering her seventh term as a Democratic assemblywoman from Las Vegas, was elected Wednesday by her colleagues as Assembly speaker for the coming session.

Both are seen as formidable maneuverers in both policy and politics alike, with the relationships and know-how to both craft an agenda and steer it into position. Gibbons, Herzik said, has no such reputation.

"Jim Gibbons is often underestimated, but in this case, his skills are unknown," Herzik said. A former assemblyman and congressman, "he's never been the CEO. He's been part of a large team, and often in his legislative career he has not been able to really form working relationships to get things done."

Gibbons' personality, notoriously "diffident" and "formal," doesn't lend itself to political maneuvering, Herzik said.

It's conceivable that Buckley and Raggio will run rings around the rookie governor. Each will pose a separate kind of challenge for Gibbons, Herzik said.

On the one hand, Buckley will lead a whopping two-thirds majority of ideologically liberal Democrats in the Assembly, posing a challenge to Gibbons' equally ideological conservatism, he said.

On the other hand, Raggio's power base and pragmatism could take the reins clean out of Gibbons' hands, Herzik said.

Raggio's critics say he's too compromising and too biased in favor of Northern Nevada. But there's no denying his effectiveness, Herzik said.

Titus, for her part, probably won't lose her leadership position, but she won't have much clout, Herzik predicted.

Titus' power will largely consist of what it always has - the ability to make pithy public statements, not the capacity to pass legislation.

"There's two reasons for that," he said. "One, she doesn't work well with others, which isn't good when you're the minority leader. Two, she's the minority leader."

If Republicans disagree with Titus, they can simply outvote her and her caucus.

Titus' energy and political skills are strong, but they are her only weapons, he said.

Buckley on Wednesday said she looked forward to working with Gibbons in a bipartisan way for the good of the state.

"I have worked with Republican and Democrat governors in the past," said Buckley.

While Republicans and Democrats have had their differences, Buckley said, the Nevada Legislature is different from Congress, where Gibbons has served the past 10 years as the 2nd Congressional District representative.

"It's like night and day," she said. "We listen to each other. We don't deficit spend. We get our work done."

Raggio said Wednesday that Gibbons had called him to suggest discussing the budget, and Raggio is eager to do so.

"I've been in the Legislature for 34 years under five different governors from both parties," he said. "My policy has always been that the election is over, you accept the people's decision and you work together. I have always had a good relationship with him, and I look forward to working with him."

Although Raggio called his relationship with Titus "excellent," he was critical of her fighting words Tuesday night.

"If I were in her position, that wouldn't be what I would say. Once the election is over, you accept the results," he said.

Raggio said the legislative session should be more pragmatic than political.

"Our biggest problem is going to be limited funding," he said. "The expenditure cap is going to kick in this year. Everybody's been talking about a surplus that's not going to be there."

Raggio said he didn't want to opine on budget proposals Guinn released Monday.

"He's made some very thoughtful decisions, but I have to see what the new governor is going to propose when he delivers the State of the State in January," he said.

"If he chooses to discuss it with me before then, he is welcome to do that. I want to get together with the Democrats too. We only meet for 120 days every two years. We don't have time for a lot of partisan maneuvering."

Democratic political consultant Dan Hart said Wednesday that Gibbons will have to find a way to clear the air of the scandals that hit him late in the campaign and linger unresolved. Then he will have to assemble a governing team.

"He's going to be limping into Carson City," he said. "Everybody will be watching him very carefully to see who he surrounds himself with."

Review-Journal Capital Bureau chief Ed Vogel contributed to this report.