The record spending proposed by Gov. James Gibbons in his "state of the state" speech may have shocked some of his more dogmatic supporters who expected him to govern according to his politics. But then, nearly all Nevada governors propose record spending -- it goes with the territory of presiding over one of the nation's fastest growing states.

Gibbons' program was not strong on originality. Nearly everything in the speech - even its "empowerment schools" centerpiece - was drawn from his predecessor, earlier legislatures, or local government (Clark County already has a school autonomy experiment operating).

"Join me in changing our education system with a single, bold stroke," Gibbons told the lawmakers in calling for an expansion of Clark County's program.

The one area where he reversed previous proposals was in all-day kindergarten, saying that the state's one year of experience with it was inadequate for a major commitment. The Democrats said that was deceptive, that he was using only the state-funded year while ignoring additional Nevada experience with the concept that was funded by the federal government, as well as ignoring other states' use of all day kindergarten.

One of Gibbons' biggest problems with lawmakers is a sense of unease toward the governor, indicating that he has fences to mend. Because his years on the statewide stage have featured an us-against-them approach to politics that plays groups off against each other and uses emotionally loaded attacks, his honeyed words about "rejecting the counterproductive tug and pull of partisan politics" were not necessarily taken as an indication of the way he will actually run his governorship.

Democrats and some Republicans noted Gibbons' penchant for bitter one-liners and slash and burn politics and said they will need to be shown proof of his good will, though they made an effort not to be overly critical and even offered suggestions to a governor they know has little experience in state government and none in executive office. Assembly Judiciary Committee chair Bernie Anderson, a Democrat who commands respect on both sides of the aisle, phrased his concern in a way that made it a complaint about governors in general and said Gibbons' use of his agency chiefs and staff operatives who deal directly with government's administrative structure will be telling.

"It's been my experience with the last three governors that rhetoric is one thing and course of office is another," Anderson said. "I think a great deal is going to (depend) on the people he decides to push on these issues as the front-liners. I think that that's where it always comes down to, because they have a secure knowledge base and they have a clear vision. I think that's what leadership always requires, both a secure knowledge base and a vision of where you're going. And if he's communicated that to his staff and they can communicate it back to us here in the legislature, then he'll be successful. If he hasn't, then he won't."

The Democrats, as they often do, demonstrated on this occasion their inability to master communications techniques. Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley gave a Democratic response to Gibbons' speech. While he spoke for nearly an hour, she spoke for a little more than five minutes. That was all to the good - nearly all governors' messages to legislatures are too long - but that was one of the few good things about it. Buckley put herself into an unbalanced situation. Gibbons was scripted carefully. Buckley spoke from notes. Gibbons worked from a teleprompter. Buckley spoke off the cuff, frequently glancing down at her notes, repeating some words, slurring contractions. Gibbons spoke about the state of the state. Buckley responded to Gibbons' remarks instead of outlining a Democratic state of the state, thus surrendering the agenda-setting to him.

Buckley was certainly a good choice for such a situation - she is far more glib and polished than most public speakers. So she probably brought it off better than other Democratic leaders could have done.

But Gibbons has top notch media advisors, led by former television newsman Brent Boynton. The Democrats need to learn this domain if they're going to compete on a level playing field with the new governor.