Jon Ralston on Gov. Jim Gibbons’ resurgence since legislators went home

Wednesday, July 11, 2007 | 7:04 a.m.

At the risk of sounding like one of those cliche-spewing sports announcers who point out that one team missed too many chances to put away its now-resurgent opponent early in the contest, the Democrats have helped allow Gov. Jim Gibbons to get back in the game.

No sport has the vicissitudes of politics - ask Bush 41 or McCain '08. But the alacrity with which Gibbons' fortunes have changed has been nothing short of spectacular, with his prowess (I am sure there is some) having much less to do with it than kismet and Democratic fecklessness. For Gibbons, it's a slight twist on the Billy Crystal/Fernando Lama principle: It is better to look good than be good.

Only a few months ago, Gibbons had a 29 percent approval rating, his administration was operating on what seemed like a gaffe-a-day principle and chop-licking Democrats were plotting a recall effort and musing about replacement candidates.

Now, the governor appears to have had a successful session (catalyst for transportation plan, no new taxes), his approval rating is up to a modest if not robust 49 percent (in one poll, at least) and the lawsuit that prompted an FBI probe may be falling apart.

Gibbons may not exactly be ascendant, but as one of those announcers might say breathlessly: He could go all the way.

Through his term at least.

Talk of a recall has fizzled. Big-talking business types, from university system Chancellor Jim Rogers to various others, are noticeably quiet now. Perhaps, with the temperatures in the triple digits, they have simply gone fishing for a more succulent catch than a wounded governor. A much-publicized Web site devoted to the recall has gathered 13 signatures in the past six weeks. A movement it ain't.

In the month since the session concluded with Gibbons boasting of his accomplishments - as if Venice suddenly began to rise instead of continuing to sink - the governor has made nary a misstep, not that he has had many chances. The Legislature is like a spotlight shining across the courtyard at the governor; when the lawmakers depart, the spotlight is turned off.

Gibbons also has been greeted with news that those controversial e-mails in that lawsuit involving his pal Warren Trepp may indeed be fake. And this week, two of the attorneys for Trepp's former partner, Dennis Montgomery, took themselves off the case, which now looks weaker.

The governor also has involved himself in a percolating issue that may well inure to his benefit - the proposed merger of Sierra Health Services and UnitedHealth Group. This is an act of political dexterity many would not expect of Gibbons - an almost anti-Republican maneuver to intimate that he wants more light shined on a pact that is very important to a major GOP campaign donor and a maneuver that could endear him to many voters who are not registered Republicans.

As one of those sports squawkers might say: I didn't know he could go to his left.

None of this would have been possible, though, if the Democrats had gone for the jugular during the session instead of standing on the sidelines. Perhaps they were following that old political axiom about getting out of the way when your opponent is committing suicide.

But if politics is a sport, that game is chess, not checkers. And the long view might have been that if Gibbons was going to take a pass on transportation and stick to his "no new taxes" shtick, then the Democrats should have done two things:

First, they should have rammed a transportation solution - a real one - out of the Assembly and forced senators and the governor to take a stand on it. Then, they should have called news conference after news conference showing what the real-life consequences of Gibbons' stubborn adherence to his tax-free and responsibility-free policies will be down the road - on education, on health care, on transportation.

The Democrats can say about me what athletes say about so many sports analysts: It's easy to throw stones when you are not on the field.

Perhaps. And surely the Democrats realize - as I am sure Gibbons does - that this comeback has occurred only one-eighth of the way through the governor's term. Thanks to the FBI, the governor's mouth or circumstances unforeseen, the tide could shift at any moment. So I would expect that the Democrats will continue to give 110 percent even though Gibbons seems to be playing like there is no tomorrow.