Gary W. Henderson Challenging Results; Promises "Death or Victory"

Gary W. Henderson has challenges the results of yesterday's primary election, promising "Blood on the Street until Death or Victory." Daniel F. Repovz has joined this fight, proclaiming that he is on a hunger strike until the "Skulls of the infidels are crushed." Thousands have taken to the streets protesting this election insanity from two of the minor candidates. At this hour, portions of Fairywood and Fineview are in flames...

No, not really... but it would have been more exciting.

And so Bob O'Connor won. No big shock there. The tension was so thick last night you could cut it with a knife... a dull knife... made of rubber... and imaginary. Bob's victory seemed so certain, that he could have proclaimed himself Omnipotent King of the Wicker People, and he still would have coasted to victory.

So much for public participation. On to the analysis from the County Elections Homepage

I'm not quite sure what constitutes a "landside," as Lord knows a "mandate" means around 50%. Bob only managed to rake in 48.4% of the vote... or 28,344, which is appalling for a city of 300K. He managed to pick up 27 out of 32 wards, losing Ward 7 (Shadyside), 8 (Bloomfield/Friendship), 11 (East Liberty/Highland Park), and 14 (Squirrel Hill/Regent Square) to Bill Peduto and 19 (Beechview/Brookline) to Michael Lamb.

Bob only managed to squeeze out a slim percentage of victory over Peduto in the 17th (Southside) and 22nd (Allegheny West) Wards. Peduto, in turn, slid by Bob in Wards 11 and 14. Lamb's victory in Ward 19 was similarly close.

What actually tells the story of Pittsburgh, however, are the second place finishes.

Louis "Hop" Kendrick placed 2nd in Ward 5 (Middle Hill District), 12 (Lincoln-Lemmington), and 13 (Homewood). While he got trounced by Bob in terms of absolute numbers, I believe this shows an inability of the Lamb and Peduto campaigns to effectively address the concerns of the African-American populations of the city.

With the exception of the Southside, Lamb either won or came in second South of the Rivers. Lamb also came in second place in Wards 5, 15, 24, and 27 (Lower Hill/Crawford-Roberts, Greenfield/Hazelwood, Troy Hill/East Allegheny, and Brighton Heights/Marshall Shadeland, respectively). These are all the "forgettable" neighborhoods, without universities, or extensive mainstreets. As I postulated before, I doubted that Peduto would make much headway in these types of neighborhoods.

Peduto's second place finishes are no shock either. Typically he won in areas that have had Bourgeoisie-Bohemian appeal: Oakland, Downtown, Lawrenceville, the Strip, Southside, Central Northside, etc. These areas represent some of his core constituencies: young, elite, artistic, literati.

OK, that's enough for now; I need a better look at the data before I say much more.

All hail Bob.