Now if I am one of the kids from across the hall I am very upset with Janet Evans ... they wanted Doherty out ... she had given them the impression for about 2 years that she was going to make a run for the office of Mayor ... she let them down ... according to this article from the TT she would have been the one to beat Doherty ... why was she not true to her word ... She knew that the people (not me) wanted her as Mayor .... the actually begged her to run from the council podium ... so why did she not do it?    And why are these people still so loyal to her after she let them down?  What is it about her that makes people believe in her ... I don't get it ... could someone please enlighten me?

Vote totals illuminate rivalry

More Democrats voted for Gary DiBileo this week than in his 2005 primary election contest against Mayor Chris Doherty, and he still lost.

He lost bigger, too, because Mr. Doherty polled even more Democratic votes this time without his party's endorsement than with the endorsement four years ago.

The mayor also likely accomplished something else he couldn't four years ago: a victory on the Republican side. This time, with someone - Bob Bolus - on the ballot. Last time, no one was on the ballot, and we all know what happened.

As he savored his sure victory and his probable one, Mr. Doherty also faced a scary reality.

If his challenger had been City Councilwoman Janet Evans rather than Mr. DiBileo, Mr. Doherty might not be preparing for a third term. Or at least, he might have had to struggle to win the way he did in 2005 when Mr. DiBileo won the Republican nomination via write-in votes.

Mrs. Evans received more votes in her council re-election bid than Mr. Doherty did for the mayoral nomination on the Democratic ballot. In the council race, voters chose up to three candidates from a field of six. Mrs. Evans polled a substantial number of Republican votes, too.

Let's start with Mr. DiBileo. In 2005, his 7,527 votes were 574 short of Mr. Doherty's total. He had an unofficial 7,736 Tuesday, up 209.

Mr. Doherty received 8,101 Democratic votes four years ago, and an unofficial 8,677 Tuesday, 576 more.

Keep in mind school Director Kathleen McGuigan received 553 votes in the 2005 primary.

Add up the votes in both years and there's an amazing fact: 16,181 Democrats voted for mayor in the 2005 primary while 16,413 voted Tuesday. That number could rise slightly in the official count, but it won't go up by that much.

That means there's a hard-core group of Democratic voters who turn out for a mayoral primary, and this time more of them backed Mr. Doherty than last time. You can even argue, if you want, that he got most of Mrs. McGuigan's votes. For years, Mr. DiBileo had argued that her 2005 votes would have been his.

The number of voters was almost exactly the same even though 3,769 more city residents were registered as Democrats this time than in 2005. Registrations went up sharply last year because of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. It would appear most of the new Democrats stayed home.

On the Republican side, an unofficial Times-Tribune count showed Mr. Doherty had 844 write-in votes in 35 of the city's 48 precincts, more than the 837 Mr. Bolus had in all 48 as a ballot candidate. Though Mr. DiBileo had 375 in the same 35 precincts, it's highly likely that the majority of the remaining uncounted Republican write-ins went to Mr. Doherty.

That's the good news for the mayor.

The bad news for Mr. Doherty is that Mrs. Evans, with 8,990 votes, ran better than he did on the Democratic side and probably earned enough write-in votes for a Republican council nomination, according to a Times-Tribune tally. The final totals aren't in, but the overall totals for both will be close.

You can look at that two ways. First, Mrs. Evans is every bit as formidable as the mayor as a vote-getter. That's our view because she obviously led her two running mates to victory, and was the top vote-getter while spending a fraction of what he did to win.

You can also look at it as the mayor does: Voters have three votes for the council, so her chances of getting one of those was better than the mayor getting one vote.

By section of the city, the vote totals were remarkably similar to the 2005 primary in Center City, Green Ridge, Hill Section/Pine Brook/East Scranton, East Mountain and West Scranton.

Mr. Doherty won all of those except West Scranton.

The striking differences were in South Scranton and North Scranton.

Mr. Doherty narrowly lost North Scranton, which he narrowly won last time, and fairly substantially won South Scranton/Minooka, which he narrowly lost last time. He won 26 of the 48 precincts.

Here's how the votes broke down.

Mr. Doherty won Center City, 89 to 66; Green Ridge, 1,448 to 532; Hill Section/Pine Brook/East Scranton, 1,449 to 832; East Mountain, 438 to 329; and South Scranton/Minooka, 1,775 to 1,530.

Mr. DiBileo won North Scranton, 1,276 to 1,222, and West Scranton, 3,171 to 2,256.

Mr. Doherty also won the predictor precinct, Scranton's 20th Ward, 3rd Precinct: 267 to 186. Counting Tuesday, Scranton 20-3 has picked the winner in 10 of the last 12 Democratic primaries. It will go 12 for 12 for mayoral elections when Mr. Doherty wins it in November.

Finally, it's pretty clear the Democratic Party's endorsement meant little this time around, at least in the highest-profile races.

The Lackawanna County Democratic Party endorsed Jim Tierney for judge and Chester Cipilewski for sheriff. The city party endorsed Mr. DiBileo.

They all lost.

Two of the city party's endorsed candidates, incumbent school Directors Brian Jeffers and Frank Brazill, won.

BORYS KRAWCZENIUK, Times-Tribune politics reporter, writes Random Notes. The column has appeared every Saturday since 1895.


Now I just want to point out one last thing here ... Art Moran, Harry McGrath and the entire city Democratic Committee ... well you have a very hard time picking winners ... what you have one true winner and that is Frank Brazill ... Brian Jeffers only one on the Democratic side of the ticket so his fate is yet to unfold in the race for School Board so it may turn out ... in the end that you have produced only one winner with your Democratic Endorsed Team ... how sad for you.

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