Jon Ralston suggests putting aside criticisms to give Gov. Jim Gibbons the opportunity to reinvent himself at Monday’s State of the State address

By Jon Ralston

Sunday, Jan. 21, 2007 | 7:22 a.m.

It is time to forget - if only for now - all of it: MazzeoTreppNannyMunroTremorsPlagiarismGaffes-Dawn's-BoozeBanSmallFingerprintsBigFingerprints. And so on.

On Monday night Jim Gibbons will have that rarest of opportunities: A second chance to make a first impression.

He needs it. He deserves it. So he should get it.

Never has a State of the State speech been so critical for a governor as this one is for Gibbons. After toiling for a decade on Capitol Hill in relative obscurity, especially so far as Southern Nevadans are concerned, Gibbons ran a campaign for governor mostly distinguished by his lack of specificity ("I will save you money") and his caricaturing of his opponent, Dina Taxes (er, Titus) as a spending machine. He won mostly because people disliked his opponent and what he told voters she stood for - and the electorate liked him only slightly better.

For about an hour Monday, Gibbons has a chance to change all of that - or to cement unfavorable impressions formed last year or during the first, all-too-eventful two weeks of his administration. He will never change the imbued views of closed-minded partisans. But he can alter perceptions or start new ones - and he needs to begin anew because he comes into office with only 48 percent of the vote and with serious questions about who he is, what he really stands for and what he plans to do with the most important elected job in Nevada.

Even if he wanted to keep being vague, Gibbons doesn't have that luxury. State of the State speeches are essentially a budget blueprint, highlighted and obscured by hosannas for legislators and regular folks and by a memorable line or two (we are lucky if we get one).

So here is some of I think/know/wish Gibbons might/will/should say Monday in Carson City:

Eight years ago I described then-Gov. Kenny Guinn's first State of the State as the most partisan in years because of his conservative verbiage and smarmy stroking of Republican lawmakers. How ironic that Gibbons, much more conservative than the moderate Guinn, likely will embroider a much more bipartisan rhetorical quilt. Back then, Guinn talked about a fundamental review of the state budget process, which, also ironically, Gibbons says he, too, plans to unfurl Monday.

But Gibbons has much more incentive to reach across the aisle than did Guinn. He confronts a state divided by the election. What's more, the governor is from Reno and he lost to Titus in Clark County. He needs to show he knows where Las Vegas (and Henderson and North Las Vegas, even Mesquite) is on the map. So, for example, when he talks about doing a water inventory, the governor will make clear he doesn't mean to slow the state engineer's decision on the rural water importation project.

But even as he reaches out to southerners and Democrats, Gibbons will present some ideas sure to be discussion points for days, weeks and a session afterward. The centerpiece is what he calls a new approach on education policy - might we hear talk of merit pay and accountability measures? Look for him also to talk about the state's metastasizing methamphetamine problem, a righteous cause that will allow first lady Dawn Gibbons to soak in applause for her leadership. And listen as he calls on hospitals to be more transparent in their reporting of costs and charges and to justify those numbers - echoes of another governor (Richard Bryan) and his State of the State speech 20 years ago.

I am certain we will also get our usual share of big talk about campaign finance and ethics reform, probably some tough talk about sex offenders, surely some conservative talk about educational accountability and tax cuts, and surely some sweet talk for various constituencies. He will repeat his campaign promises and talk about pressing legislative topics such as eminent domain. That's all de rigueur .

I am not suggesting come Monday we should forget what Gibbons has said and done before this speech. No one has been more critical than I of his missteps. But that needs to be suspended, at least for that hour or so Monday as he reintroduces himself to the state and beyond if he earns it.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the new governor of Nevada, Jim Gibbons.