You mean Mimi Miyagi won’t be running for governor in November? How cruel are the fates.

Las Vegas- As of today, it’s Gibbons vs. Titus.

Despite a bitterly fought campaign on both sides, Republican Jim Gibbons and Democrat Dina Titus [picture] emerged victorious from Tuesday’s gubernatorial primaries by wide margins.

Gibbons, a congressman from Reno, won in a landslide with 48 percent of the Republican vote. State Sen. Bob Beers took 29 percent, while Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt managed just 18 percent.

Titus, the state Senate minority leader, buried her better-funded rival with 53 percent of the Democratic vote to Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson’s 36 percent.

It was the result many would have predicted six months ago. But the outcome appeared far less certain after an intense campaign in which new accusations were lobbed almost daily.

There hadn’t been competitive races on both sides of the gubernatorial primary in Nevada in more than a decade.

Turnout in Clark County was slightly up from previous years, with 27 percent of registered voters casting ballots. Primary turnout in recent years has been about 25 percent.

For both parties, the question now will be whether the two gubernatorial candidates can bring into the fold their opponents’ supporters who might have been alienated by the harsh rhetoric of the primary campaigns.

Titus’ victory celebration, held at the Nevada State Education Association headquarters in Las Vegas, was a festive scene Tuesday night. She said her overwhelming victory was proof she could win statewide.

“We feel good about it,” she said. “The stronger we come out of this, the better we look for November.”

Titus’ campaign had a new logo and a new slogan to begin the general election campaign: “A record to stand on, a plan to build on.”

Titus and Gibson said Tuesday night they were planning to meet soon, but Gibson appeared wary of the woman whose commercials said he was “for sale” and would try to take away abortion rights if elected.

Titus said her telephone call to Gibson was “a very pleasant conversation. I said, ‘I hope we can put this behind us.’ ”

But Gibson said he wasn’t ready to commit to backing Titus. “I’ll never feel good about the (Titus’) negative attacks,” he said. “What I’d rather do before I commit is to wait until I’ve had a chance to sit down and talk to her.”

Two of Nevada’s top Democrats, Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Shelley Berkley, released a joint statement calling for party unity Tuesday night.

“It was a hard fought campaign by two candidates who cared deeply about our state’s future,” the statement said. “Our party is proudly united behind Dina and our Democratic ticket. … We are confident that Nevada voters will embrace her vision for Nevada and elect her as our next governor.”

Gibbons was celebrating Tuesday night with wife Dawn Gibbons at the Peppermill Hotel Casino in Reno. Although Dawn Gibbons lost her bid to take her husband’s place in Congress, Jim Gibbons was jubilant.

“I know we have a lot of work to do, but we’ve done it in the primary and we’ll do it in the general election,” Gibbons told supporters.

He also issued a plea for unity among party members, saying he hoped to work with his opponents to defeat Democrats for all offices, not just governor.

“I know it’s going to take some healing, but I want to reach out to my opponents and work toward that healing.”

The support he gets from Beers and Hunt may be given grudgingly. Beers, whose charges during the campaign included calling Gibbons a liar, a coward and an extortionist, said he hoped his insurgent campaign, based on an anti-tax platform, had sent a message to the front-runner.

“I don’t think we lost,” Beers told his supporters. “We were outspent four to one, outstaffed six to one. We had less of everything as we set out … to make our government listen to the people of Nevada. I think we did that.”

There were laughs and jeers from the crowd as Beers said of Gibbons, “I imagine he learned some valuable lessons.”

Beers said in an interview, “It’s pretty clear to me, from talking to Jim (Gibbons), that he recognizes that a lot of people agree with me.”

Beers said he definitely would support Gibbons despite his criticisms. “Politics is often the case of having to choose between two less-than-perfect candidates,” he said.

Beers also said he would continue pushing for passage of his proposed Tax and Spending Control initiative, which would hold future governors in check by limiting budget increases.

“TASC’s passage is more important than who’s governor,” he said. “It will be in the constitution to safeguard against the whimsical expansion of state government.”

A Beers supporter at his gathering at Arizona Charlie’s said she was so turned off by Gibbons she would consider voting against him in the general election. But after thinking it over, Jori Spangler said she couldn’t possibly vote for a Democrat. “I do want a Republican governor,” she said.

Hunt, who poured nearly $800,000 of her own money into a campaign that never seemed to get off the ground, said she would work hard for all the Republican candidates, especially Treasurer Brian Krolicki, who won the Republican primary for lieutenant governor.

“I certainly had a life before politics, and I’m going to have a wonderful life after politics,” Hunt said, saying she would return to the private sector.

Gibbons and Titus will be joined in the November general election by Green Party candidate Craig Bergland and Independent American Christopher Hansen.