Ravenstahl Not Magnanimous in Victory

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl grabbed 59% of the vote in yesterday’s three way democratic mayoral primary for the city of Pittsburgh. Councilman Patrick Dowd came in second with 28% and Lawyer and former Pittsburgh Police officer Carmen Robinson rounded out the field with 13%. Ravenstahl says keeping the budget in the black will continue to be a top priority of his administration but he has an 11-point blue print for the city that includes other items such as public safety, diversity and government transparency. Ravenstahl says the city is poised for a third renaissance and he is looking forward to rolling up his sleeves and getting to work like those who have come before him for the last 250 years. He says its residents have built the city in the past and the residents will do it again. At his election night party, Patrick Dowd, told supporters he wants to "continue the conversation" that began during his mayoral campaign. Dowd was a schoolteacher before he entered politics and he says this election was kind of like taking a test. He says he's looking forward to seeing the final tallies so he can see where voters liked him, and where he could have done better. It's all a learning experience, he says. And one thing Dowd says he's already learned is that it's hard to compete when your campaign war chest is so much smaller. Dowd says the candidates had their differences and that was a good thing. He says, "it was important to get in and take a stand on these issues, and make sure Pittsburghers had a choice on these issues. And I think we had three good choices in this election." Carmen Robinson says she is also ready for more after running her first campaign. She says she was pleased with the campaign she ran but was disappointed at voter turnout levels. She says running for office is “in her blood” and she cannot wait until four years from now to try again. During his acceptance speech Ravenstahl congratulated Carmen Robinson for her campaign but did not mention Patrick Dowd with whom he clashed regularly on the campaign trail and on Grant Street over the last several months. Ravenstahl says his mother taught that if he had nothing nice to say he should say nothing at all and that is what he chose to do election night.