Jon Ralston on Las Vegas doctors counting unhatched chickens, Dina Titus trying to prove her love for Reno and GOP senators afraid of a debate

Friday, July 21, 2006 | 7:48 a.m.

A few end-of-the-week election nuggets:

The docs resurface: You haven't heard much from the doctors since their smashing victory in 2004 over the trial lawyers on tort reform and the medical-malpractice issue. Remember all those doctors walking along the highway, miraculously avoiding being struck by speeding cars and apparently having forgotten their Benzes at home? Well, many of them didn't leave town and some of the more prominent ones have resurfaced in this year's campaign.

A quartet of doctors has penned a missive, distributed to many physicians in the valley, that supports state Sen. Bob Beers for governor - a reward for his performance on their issues - but also pounds not just Rep. Jim Gibbons, but congressional hopeful Dawn Gibbons, too.

The letter, written by prominent Dr. John Nowins and three others, criticizes Rep. Jim Gibbons for not getting into the med-mal fight five years ago, saying it was a state issue. Then, Nowins et al. write, during the 2002 special session on tort reform, Beers' "voice was loud and clear, and on the side of doctors" and (then-Assemblywoman) Dawn Gibbons "voted with the other side. She was then, and has remained since, an ally of the trial attorneys ..."

The doctors even go so far as to argue that the "aura of inevitability" over Jim Gibbons' ascension to the governorship is illusory and that TASC's popularity makes Beers likely to win the primary and general elections.

That is something - either amazing prescience or a leap of faith. And, not surprisingly, the Beers campaign is sending the letter around. I just hope the docs are not walking down Interstate 15 to their places in Laguna Beach, Calif., when early voting starts in a week.

Now this is sad: The spectacle of state Sen. Dina Titus traveling to Reno to essentially say, "I love you, I really love you," to Northern Nevada is quite extraordinary. Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson has pounded Titus for her intemperate comments about the North as a Southern partisan in the Legislature and has been running spots with men and women on the street reacting to them.

Titus knows she can't get crushed in the North or she might well lose the race, so she managed to find a multicultural band to stand with her up there and feel the love.

It's either desperate or pathetic or necessary - or maybe all three.

Now this is funny: One day after those pathetic monorail ridership numbers came out, Titus launched a Web site - monorailjim.com - to lampoon the Henderson mayor's involvement with the project. It's a simple but effective site, and it is designed to dovetail with Titus' consistent theme that Gibson took money (Nevada Power) while a public servant for initiatives that did not benefit the public.

I'm not sure how many locals really care that much about the monorail, but as part of a larger picture, it may be potent.

Bawk, bawk: What are GOP state Sens. Barbara Cegavske and Sandra Tiffany afraid of? Both are refusing, without explanation, to debate their very credible opponents on "Face to Face." Are they afraid of Tim Cory and John Jackson, respectively? Are they afraid of the program's host? Or would they rather just keep their campaigns sub rosa, mail hit pieces and pray they win their desperate bids to hold onto those prestigious state Senate slots?

I suppose "all of the above" is possible, too.