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Can Luke Ravenstahl Be Defeated?

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Nov 3, 2009 8:11 pm US/Eastern

Can Luke Ravenstahl Be Defeated?

Reporting
Jon Delano
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― If it seems like we're always holding Pittsburgh mayoralty elections, well, we are.

But the winner tonight will get a full four-year term with no chance of change until 2013.

Most analysts think Luke Ravenstahl will win tonight, but how big a win may determine his political clout in the months ahead.

Ravenstahl can be forgiven if he'd like a break from running for mayor -- this is his fourth election in three years.

In the 2007 primary, Ravenstahl scared Councilman Bill Peduto out of the mayor's race -- then defeated a well-funded Republican named Mark DeSantis with 63 percent of the vote.

This year in the primary, Ravenstahl won 59 percent of the vote against Councilman Patrick Dowd and attorney Carmen Robinson.

The question tonight is whether Franco Dok Harris and Kevin Acklin can do any better.

Two years ago, Ravenstahl carried most of the city but lost Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, Point Breeze and parts of Highland Park, Mount Washington and Downtown.

Tonight, we'll see if Ravenstahl does any better in those areas -- his challengers bet he won't.

In addition, Dok Harris thinks he'll win East Liberty, the Hill District, Homewood, Manchester, and Sheraden, while Kevin Acklin hopes to beat Ravenstahl in Banksville, Beechview, Brookline, Elliott, and Greenfield.

But here's the real problem for the challengers -- if they split the opposition, Ravenstahl still wins if he's in first place -- even if a majority of Pittsburghers vote against him.

And that's the best news for Ravenstahl.

If voters who don't like the mayor split evenly between Harris and Acklin, it's pretty hard to imagine Ravenstahl losing.

Still, until the votes are counted, no one really knows what happened at the only polls that count.

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

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