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Analysis: Dissecting Mayor Ravenstahl's Win

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Nov 4, 2009 6:03 pm US/Eastern

Analysis: Dissecting Mayor Ravenstahl's Win

Reporting
Jon Delano
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Pittsburgh voters gave him a solid win over independent candidates Franco Dok Harris and Kevin Acklin who together won about 45 percent of the vote.

But Ravenstahl's 55 percent victory was well below the average. In 2007, Ravenstahl got 63 percent of the vote.

In 2005, Bob O'Connor won 67 percent and in 2001 Tom Murphy won the general election with 74 percent of the vote.

While the mayor led in every city ward, a majority of voters in six wards -- with significant neighborhoods -- voted against him.

That included Oakland, Shadyside, Bloomfield, East Liberty and Highland Park, Squirrel Hill and Point Breeze and Allegheny Center and the North Shore where Harris and Acklin's combined vote exceeded Ravenstahl's.

Still, the mayor swept the rest of the city, including areas like the Hill District and Beechview where his challengers had hoped to win.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was how many voters stayed home.

Two years ago, nearly 69,000 people voted in the mayor's race. This year just over 51,000 cast a ballot, meaning thousands opted not to vote for the city's top job.

In the end, only one thing really matters after several years in which others - Bill Peduto, Mark DeSantis, Patrick Dowd, Carmen Robinson, Franco Dok Harris and Kevin Acklin -- each tried to replace him, Luke Ravenstahl is now mayor without a doubt for the next four years.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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