Columnist Jon Ralston: On how Titus just may have put herself at the top of one gubernatorial list

Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006 | 8:33 a.m.

Jon Ralston hosts the news discussion program Face to Face with Jon Ralston on Las Vegas ONE and also publishes the daily e-mail newsletter RalstonFlash.com. His column for the Las Vegas Sun appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or through e-mail at ralston@vegas.com.

It was only a snapshot. But if the picture was worth the thousands of words spoken Tuesday morning at the Stardust, the caption would read: Dina and the Four Dwarfs.

Watching the gubernatorial candidate quintet at a breakfast forum sponsored by the Nevada Development Authority, I was bemused by how many of the hundreds of attendees were thinking, "I got up early for this?"

This place reached no higher echelon Tuesday. The candidates were predictable (Rep. Jim Gibbons), perky (Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt), wry but snide (state Sen. Bob Beers) and soporific (Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson). The only one who seemed to engage this relatively conservative crowd was the most liberal candidate there, state Sen. Dina Titus, who was both witty and substantive, which generally put her two-up on the competition.

If charming a crowd were the most important factor in winning a campaign, Titus would crush her opponents, especially her Democratic primary foe Gibson. The Henderson mayor, as many of his intimates know, can be a genuinely engaging and even funny guy.

But at this forum and others, he would need an upgrade to be labeled an automaton, albeit a mellifluous one. If he is trying to capitalize on worries that he is the only Democrat who can win a statewide race, he would do well not to act like John Kerry on downers.

Titus, by contrast, seems to be having the time of her life, knowing she has not much to lose and much to gain should she become the state's first female governor. No moment in the crying-out-for-caffeine event matched Titus' glib but telling riff on the "Nevada is at a crossroads" cliche. She said the state is poised to travel in one of four directions:

* The California route, where "tax relief" will lead to a "tax shift" to business, a clear dig at Beers' Tax and Spending Control initiative.

* The Mississippi route, where education withers and, using one of her hoary lines, we remain "at the bottom of all the good lists and at the top of all the bad lists."

* The "turn-back-the-clock" route, where the School District is broken up and we return to " '50s-style segregation" and a loss of "individual freedoms," a marvelously constructed double broadside at Gibbons and the national GOP.

* The "gangbusters-to-the-future" route, where the economy is diversified with projects such as a renewable energy corridor and high-tech medical facilities, or even with the simple task of putting a grocery store in a neighborhood -- a wonderfully ecumenical pitch.

Her remarks seemed to engage the crowd much more than any of the others.

Gibbons gave his stock speech, touting his tax restraint initiative, his vote-getting power and his devotion to education and business. Gibson did his rote "I love Henderson and I am a Democrat" speech, touting his family ties in Southern Nevada.

Beers was focused on Gibbons, needling the congressman for his endorsement by prison employees at a time when public-worker salaries are escalating. And Hunt was all enthusiasm all the time, touting her economic development efforts (she has gone to China, you know) and hyping her optimism and commitment and so on.

To be fair, Hunt's mush was not significantly more mushy than that offered by the rest, save Titus. I am sure there were people in that crowd -- and there were big and little shots there -- who may have disagreed with some of her positions.

But they surely admired Titus' forthrightness and charm, especially after they got over their shock that she didn't leap from the dais and make a grab for their gross receipts. (I know, I know -- that may come later.) So does this mean anything for her and what many see as her quixotic bid to win a statewide race?

She has much to overcome -- latent misogyny in the political system, her intemperate and not easily papered-over remarks about anyone who lives north of Tonopah, the state's inexorable demographics and her relative lack of campaign cash.

But if she can continue to connect with small groups, and especially if Gibson doesn't find a way to slice through her natural appeal, what once seemed impossible may seem possible come Aug. 15.