Mayor Luke Ravenstahl Moves Forward (from his family)

Honestly, I'm not taking glee in this. Saturday when someone from the audience brought up Lil Mayor Luke at the end of the night, I took no real shots. I think I said something like, "I'm so tired of talking about him. What's the point? Folks love Pittsburgh's Favorite Grandson^TM."

The real question is:

Will Pittsburgh still love the guy after last night's revelation that he and his wife have separated? (Living apart that is -- there's no legal separation in PA.)

Some things just may stick in their craw:

Can it be just a coincidence that the announcement occurred three weeks after the election and not, say, three weeks before the election?

He does seem to be saying that he chose his political career over his family.

The half of Pittsburgh who had not already heard of rumors of infidelity by Lukey have now heard it broached in public.

Those already less than happy with his holier-than-thou stances on issues like same-sex marriage and the privacy rights of women at health clinics may be less inclined to cut him a break that he's somehow forced into these positions because he's a Catholic.

That said, many of Pittsburgh's bubbas and nonnas probably have a real grandson who is separated/divorced. And, they also can't really fault him for using his family while campaigning because all pols do that and, for whatever reason, we seem to want our elected officials to come tied up in a neat happy family package.

But, if those bubbas and nonnas do remember some campaign lit they got during the primary this year, I can't help but think that they are going to recall the photo on the last page and say to themselves, "but he's so young" -- and they won't be thinking of the boy mayor.

Luke's got four more years to make it up to Grandma.
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