Well, look on the bright side. At least the anti-Ravenstahl crowd doesn't have to engage in a cycle of finger-pointing about what would have happened if either Kevin Acklin or Dok Harris dropped out of the race. With 55 percent of the vote, Ravenstahl beat their vote tallies when combined. 

Acklin and Harris DID divvy up the vote in Wards 7 and 14, allowing Ravenstahl to eke out a win in the East End progressive enclaves of Shadyside and Squirrel Hill. So yes, Acklin and Harris did divvy up the reformer vote as expected. But also as expected, it didn't really matter, because there just weren't enough reformer votes to make a difference.

But in the best lefty tradition, we should by all means engage in a cycle of mutual recrimination anyway.

Do I sound a bit cynical? Let's be clear: This was a bad night for progressives all around. Yes, Harris and Acklin combined to keep Ravenstahl under 60 percent -- Harris took 25 percent of the votes and Acklin took 20, more or less -- but so what? Republican Joan Orie-Melvin has appparently won the state Supreme Court race, and GOP candidates are doing well in other statewide judicial races as well. Plus which the GOP seems to have won gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey. Brace yourself for weeks of crowing over on FOX about how this is a referendum on the Obama administration. 

No brilliant insights here, sorry.