State Sen. Dina Titus, center, a Democrat running for governor of Nevada, addresses Northern Nevada voters on Wednesday in front of the California Building at Idlewild Park in Reno. Photo by The Associated Press.

RENO -- Flanked by more than 50 supporters, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dina Titus said Wednesday that she has a large base of voter support in the north despite critical comments made years ago that are now being used by her primary opponent in television commercials.

Supporters from labor unions, Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, American Indians and others said Titus, a 17-year veteran state lawmaker, is the best candidate to represent their interests in the capital.

Titus, who is being portrayed by her opponent as anti-Northern Nevada in the commercials, said her record as a member of the state Senate shows just how much support she has given to the region.

In commercials being run by her opponent, Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson, Titus' own words from 1991 and 1997 are being used to suggest that the Las Vegas resident would be biased against the northern part of the state as governor. In the comments, Titus accuses Washoe County of being a "sponge" during a tax debate and of being "rascals" during a discussion about flood relief.

Titus acknowledged at the campaign event, held at a park along the Truckee River, that she regrets some of her more "exuberant" comments as a lawmaker, such as the "sponge" remark in 1991.

"Well, in '91, that was my first term as a legislator," she said. "I was fighting hard for District 7 just like I will fight hard for the whole state. That was the tax shift between Washoe County and Clark County. I think that was a fair shift.

"I made some pretty exuberant remarks on the floor at that time that I have come to regret and have apologized for."

She has said in past remarks that her "rascals" comment referred to northern politicians, not flood victims, and that she was joking.

But Titus said her record shows she has voted for millions of dollars in support of Northern Nevada's needs and projects over the years, a record that Gibson cannot match.

"I would ask the people of Washoe County to look at the record, not the rhetoric," she said.

Titus also said she can defeat Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., if she wins the primary. Gibbons is the front-runner for the Republican nomination for governor, according to most polls.

Titus, viewed by some as more liberal than Gibson and thus not as appealing to mainstream voters, said her straightforward approach to issues can help win support from across the state.

"We're ready to take it to Jim Gibbons, and we're going to run on the record," she said. "He's got a record that does not fit Nevada."

Titus said Gibbons voted twice against importing drugs from Canada and against cost-of-living raises for troops serving in the Middle East.

"If he sees a tree, he wants to chop it down," she said. "He's got a zero on the environment."

Gibbons campaign manager Robert Uithoven said in response that voters have repeatedly and overwhelmingly supported the congressman in his bids for the Assembly and Congress over the years.

"We're confident they will again this year," he said.

Uithoven said that he did not know the specifics of Titus' claim about the military pay hike, but that any suggestion that Gibbons doesn't support the military won't hold up against his record.

"Gibbons has stood on the side of military men and women not only in his years in elective office but in his three decades as a member of the Armed Forces," Uithoven said. "Voters know his background."

A Titus campaign staffer later said the military pay vote referred to an October 2003 supplemental appropriations measure that would have provided $265 million to cover $1,500 in bonuses for each military service member in Iraq and Afghanistan in fiscal 2004. It died on a 213-213 vote.