Part 1: Ravenstahl

Mayor Luke Ravensthal:

Is his 2-to-1 margin of victory enough to ward off challengers in less than two years?


• "My thoughts are focusing on governing. I'm a believer that good government equals good politics, and that's what we'll try to do over the course of the next year. And 2009 will take care of itself when it approaches. But I'm a believer that if we continue to do what's necessary, and deal with the issues that are of importance to the residents, that will all take care of itself."

What he has to say to those residents in the only two wards to go for DeSantis:

• "Focus on this issues. I think if they do that, they'll realize that we have an administration that's working for them. I know, just reading some of their comments, they're focused on perhaps my age and my youth and inexperience. And I understand that, that's part of being a 27 year old mayor. But I just ask them to give me the opportunity over the next two years, and judge us on how we're able to achieve."


The political climate ahead:

• "I anticipate that while we'll focus on government and try to, as I said earlier, talk about the issues that are of importance, the reality is that the May of 2009 primary is, what, 18 months away? So that will always creep into the discussion. But I can tell you that I'm more prepared to handle that type of situation, just based on the last couple of months here."

What he's learned from the mistakes to which he referred in his victory speech:

• "I've learned that every decision that you make is something that is of public record now, and everything you do as mayor is vetted in the light of day. And I'm comfortable with that now. As I mentioned last night, mistakes have been made. We've moved on, we've learned from them. I like to believe that we're a better administration as a result of it, and I'm a better mayor as a result of those decisions over the past 14 months. And it's my hope that those issues are put into the past and we're able to move on an focus on a new day and turn the page, and talk about the issues, and go from there."

On being elected as mayor in his own right:

• "I think that was the most exciting thing for me last night. I never had the opportunity to run for mayor citywide before. This was it, this was the first time. And so, you don't know how voters are going to react to you. To receive the overwhelming support that I did last night was really, really exciting. And it really validated what I believed to be broad support.

On the goodwill of Pittsburghers:

And the people of Pittsburgh have been great from day one here. When I took office they have embraced me. And they've continued to embrace me through some of the tougher times we've had as an administration. And we're grateful for that, and I'm looking forward to hopefully doing good things for them over the next couple of years."