So just what were Gov. Kenny Guinn and university Chancellor Jim Rogers talking about over breakfast at the Four Seasons hotel today? Their meeting happened two days after would-be governor U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons dropped by Rogers’ office to talk education (read — beg Rogers to stop saying mean things about him). Could Guinn have been educating Rogers on the disaster he sees should Gibbons succeed Guinn in the top job?

We would have asked, but the pair left together before we could say hello. Plus, we didn’t have enough coffee in us to formulate a good question. And we hadn’t had our bagel, either. But we’re pretty sure Gibbons name came up. We just get that sense.

Why? Good question. Guinn has been trying to recruit candidates to run against Gibbons, who criticized Guinn’s approach to taxes during the 2003 Legislature. He’s even strained relations with longtime consultant Sig Rogich, who is advising Gibbons on the race.

Democrats may have found their candidate for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by incumbent John Ensign in the person of Jack Carter, the 58-year-old son of former President Jimmy Carter. The Review-Journal’s intrepid Erin Neff broke the story today.

Carter, a Las Vegas resident since 2003, told Neff he decided to run after the government totally screwed the pooch in responding to Hurricane Katrina. (Yes, we’re paraphrasing.) And while Ensign didn’t have much to do with Katrina’s response, Democrats don’t much like him because of his conservative views.

Ironically, the story reported Carter was set to meet with U.S. Sen. Harry Reid next week. We really wonder why: To give Reid the chance to talk Carter out of running against Ensign, who has become Reid’s good friend and co-worker in the upper house? Seriously, Reid hasn’t done anything to encourage a viable candidate to get into the race against Ensign, and we doubt Carter can expect much beyond a paltry donation from Reid’s leadership PAC for the race.

But there are plenty of other Democrats around who have got to be cheered to have someone of Jack Carter’s stature in the race against Ensign. (Sure, they’re not minority leader of the Senate, with access to plenty of resources to help, but still.) Ensign’s cakewalk to re-election just got a lot harder. As he nears the end of his first term, Ensign still battles an image of a well-coifed, well-tanned, House gym rat whose best congressional work is done during softball or basketball games. (It’s not totally true; Ensign’s had some good bills, including one to require all voting machines in the country to have a paper ballot trail, like the ones in Nevada do.)

Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates wants to expand the commission, from seven to nine members, by adding two brand-new districts. She says its to keep district populations from getting too far out of whack during the 10-year period between the Census and redistricting.

According to the Review-Journal, Gates’ district has 207,300 people, while Commissioner Bruce Woodbury’s district has 304,422. And representatives of fast-growing areas are worried that they’ll be serving the bulk of county residents while commissioners in more gentrified areas will serve fewer people.

There are legal considerations, too. Under the famous “one man, one vote” doctrine, residents of bigger districts have their votes diluted compared to residents in smaller districts.

But let’s not forget the political considerations. Gates lobbied against a proposed redistricting before her last election, because she didn’t want to gain a bunch of new voters. And, by adding two districts, she has a greater chance of keeping the West Las Vegas base from which she’s been elected four times, while taking on fewer new voters, should she decide to run for re-election in 2008. (Gates recently built a custom home outside her district, but says she’s renting an apartment and may mount yet another bid for office in the future.)