Dina Titus, shown during a debate with Jim Gibbons, still has a Southern accent after living in Nevada for 30 years. Photo by The Associated Press.

There's a southern accent, where I come from

The young'uns call it country

The yankees call it dumb

I got my own way of talkin'

But everything is done, with a southern accent

Where I come from

Lyrics from Tom Petty's

"Southern Accents"

As yet another campaign ad from Nevada Sen. Dina Titus ran across the TV screen inside the Stake Out bar on Maryland Parkway, three patrons broke out into a mocking parody of her request for their votes: "Ya'll vote for liddle ol' me now for guvna, ya hear."

In the laughter that followed this display of linguistic bigotry, one man raised his beer: "The South shall rise again."

There's definitely a Southern accent where Titus comes from -- deep in the red clay country of Georgia -- and no one can ever accuse her of losing it during her 30 years in Las Vegas.

Whether her twang contributed to her loss to Congressman Jim Gibbons -- there is no doubt that linguistic research shows the Southern accent largely is viewed unfavorably by Americans outside the South -- depends on whom you talk to.

Titus views speculation that voters held her accent against her as "silly," according to her spokeswoman, Hilarie Grey. "It didn't play a part at all. People in Nevada have accents from all over.

"She's great in the classroom, a great public speaker and she's worked with the media for years," Grey said. "There was nothing anyone could tell her that would help her."

David Damore, an associate professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said talk of the Titus drawl wouldn't be alive if the Democratic Party in Clark County could have turned out its voting base in stronger numbers, thus propelling Titus to a win.

A source in the Gibbons campaign, however, said Friday that polling done by Republicans found that the nasal Southern accent of Titus was her second highest negative, after her position on taxes.

That Republican polling, in which potential voters were found to like Titus less when they heard her nasal twang, led to the infamous ad targeting Titus in which she could be heard criticizing a former student -- "I am not happy" -- for working on the campaign of Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson during the Democratic primary.

Even Titus supporter Ted Cieszko, an 82-year-old retired businessman, believes Titus was hurt in her run for governor by her accent.

"Her Southern accent took a beating," Cieszko said. "People were mocking her. They were making fun of her."

Titus and Cieszko may be at opposite ends of the linguistic cause-and-effect pole, but linguists, political scientists and media professionals tend to take a middle ground on the issue of style versus substance in communicating with voters.

Some were stunned, however, that Titus was not receiving professional training during the campaign on how best to connect with voters over the tube and elsewhere.

Erik Herzik, a political scientist at the University of Nevada, Reno, said Titus made a huge mistake in basically listening to her own counsel on the matter.

"She doesn't recognize her own negatives. No one can say she doesn't have high self-esteem," Herzik said. "You have to remember that even after all of Gibbons' scandals she had higher negatives with voters than he did a week before the election.

"When you combine her accent with her tendency to lecture in a debate like a schoolteacher, you've got this verbal style that can be off-putting."

The style "needs to be toned down, and then the accent would not be thought of as such a big thing," Herzik said.

"Even Gibbons realized he needed training in how to present himself. People view Titus as talking down to them, and they don't like that. It's the same thing Al Gore suffered from when he was running for president."

Herzik said Titus often comes across as though she's on the attack, waiting for a chance to unleash a verbal dig.

"Bob Beers suffers from this as well," Herzik said of the state senator who lost to Gibbons in the Republican primary. "He comes across as smug, acting like the smartest kid in class and wants everyone to know it. You can't be sarcastic like Titus and Beers and expect people to rally around you."

Herzik said sarcastic one-liners -- Titus was fond of saying of Gibbons' record, "He may have forgotten but Nevada remembers" -- may work in the classroom, but they don't with the public.

"People simply don't like how she acted in the debate, for instance, when the camera came back to her and she shook her head with a disgusted smile and seemed to say, 'Oh, Mr. Gibbons, you haven't done your assignment well.' People don't want to be lectured or talked down to. She's a political scientist and she should recognize this."

Norm Hartman, owner of Carson City-based TMT Worldwide, which helps executives from Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and government agencies learn how to best make points on camera, couldn't believe that Titus wasn't receiving ongoing media training during the campaign.

"She simply wasn't dealing with reality," Hartman said. "Unfortunately, the negatives are so high for the Southern accent that I counsel major corporations never to use a spokesman with a Southern accent. And they listen. She would have needed all the help she could get to deal with that."

Herzik noted that President Bush and former Presidents Clinton and Carter, all of whom have Southern accents, do not have as thick a drawl as Titus. "And Clinton, in particular, knew how to turn it off and on depending on his audience."

But, Herzik noted, it's not particularly difficult for a male politician to slide into the role of "Southern gentleman."

A study done by Michigan State University professor Dennis Preston asked 150 Michigan resident to rank the "correctness" of English spoken in all 50 states. The South as a whole ranked the lowest.

Too often, according to University of Georgia historian James Cobb, a Southern accent is associated with negative images, including that of the slow-talking, slow-thinking, gum-chewing redneck.

Titus has been in Nevada for 30 years. It is not uncommon, according to Cobb, that someone moving in from another region will retain their accent over a long period of time.

"Some people will actually get a stronger accent when they leave their region of the country," he said. "Instead of trying to cover it up like some people, they'll actually strengthen their accents. They'll say, in effect, 'Dammit, it's who I am.'''

Cobb said U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, who has a strong Southern accent, has been able to make a mark on the national scene by using a delivery that is not particularly forceful.

"She's more like the Southern belle," he said.

To noted linguist Carmen Fought -- a key contributor to the award-winning PBS documentary "Do You Speak American?" -- there is little doubt that Southern American English dialects carry a stigma.

"It is the last acceptable prejudice in the United States," said Fought, who teaches at Pitzer College in Southern California. "We're no longer allowed to say, 'I don't like someone because he's black or Latino or Jewish or Muslim.' But we can say we don't like somebody's accent, and it's perfectly OK.

"I couldn't believe what I saw and heard recently on the TV show 'America's Top Model.' There was the beautiful model from Arkansas -- she happened to be black -- and they kept telling her everything was great about how she looked but she had to change her accent.

"She ended up winning, but the comments about her speech confirmed a study I did of California students. The Southern accent ranked terribly. We have to overcome this prejudice in our country."

To the Titus camp, however, there is no prejudice to overcome and no need to work on her communication skills.

"It's a nonissue," Grey said. "It's stupid. Senator Titus is dynamic. People love her."