He asked for it, he's got it.

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl yesterday approached his new two-year term pumped about his decisive win at the polls Tuesday, but aware of political and policy challenges to come.

The city faces "pension issues, debt issues, union contract issues," he said. "And we have to hold the line on spending."

He said he wants to focus on those issues, plus development and public safety, but conceded that "the reality is that the May of 2009 primary is, what, 18 months away, so that will always creep into the discussion."

The question on the minds of members of the political cognoscenti yesterday was whether the mayor can do enough about the city's challenges within a short time frame to justify a full four-year term thereafter.

"It forces him to take some action early on to demonstrate some initiative," said Gerald Shuster, a professor of political communication and rhetoric at the University of Pittsburgh. "The number of [mayoral] contenders will be dramatically reduced if Luke Ravenstahl's initiatives begin to demonstrate some results."

Some of the city's problems -- its $800 million debt and its half-billion-dollar pension fund shortfall, for instance -- may seem arcane and intangible to many voters. Others are as visceral as a geyser.

"We've had some serious water main breaks," notes Robert Strauss, a professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School of Public Policy and Management. There has been chronic postponement of maintenance of roads and bridges for more than a decade. "Can [maintenance problems] accumulate without the strain threatening to break some piece of the municipal infrastructure?"

Since 2000, the city has done around half of the street paving it should to keep the streets drivable. Despite a well-publicized Redd Up Campaign, voters yesterday were quick to note broken city steps, uncleared trash, broken glass and other complaints. Some credited Mr. Ravenstahl for trying to tackle those problems and the city's abundance of vacant properties.

Though the city's savings account is projected to reach $99 million by year's end, Mr. Ravenstahl plans to shift $60 million into roads, bridges and other capital spending. That won't leave much margin for fiscal error, since business and parking taxes must go down under state law, and the casino revenue meant to replace them still isn't in hand.

"Costs are going to continue to rise at a time when revenues are going to start decreasing," said acting City Controller Tony Pokora. In 2009, when the 2010 budget must be presented, "the debt is going to rear its ugly head again."

Police and firefighter contracts also expire at the end of 2009, and unions will likely seek to recover some of the pay and benefits they sacrificed over years of austerity. That could worsen rocky relations between Mr. Ravenstahl and those unions. The Fraternal Order of Police endorsed Republican Mark DeSantis in Tuesday's election, and the International Association of Fire Fighters endorsed no one.

The police are particularly disgruntled, said Mr. DeSantis. "They're using equipment that's pathetic," he said. "The police themselves are being pushed to their maximum capacity" by overtime, while they watch their pension fund struggle.

Mr. DeSantis claims officers sometimes are using equipment that's 25 years old and the union regularly complains about the age and condition of vehicles.

If Mr. Ravenstahl doesn't want to blow up the 2010 budget, though, he'll have to hold the line, said Mr. Strauss. Pittsburgh can't "have the most generous police and fire contracts in the country without the underlying economics to pay for it."

The mayor negotiates contracts, but council has much to say about personnel policies, as evidenced by an ongoing effort to pass an ordinance on the handling of allegations of domestic abuse against police.

Mr. Ravenstahl has had his way with council since his Sept. 1, 2006, ascent from its presidency upon Mayor Bob O'Connor's death. But three new councilmen -- Bruce Kraus, Patrick Dowd and the Rev. Ricky Burgess -- will take office in January. Four council veterans likely will be preparing for re-election in 2009 or jockeying for higher office.

"I see this new council as being fluid, and not being in anybody's camp," said Councilman William Peduto, who aborted a primary challenge to Mr. Ravenstahl in March, but could try again.

Tuesday's election result, which saw Mr. Ravenstahl win 63.2 percent of the vote to Mr. DeSantis' 34.9 percent, will no doubt be debated for some time, observers agreed.

"It can be spun as a landslide, or it can be spun as the worst showing by a Democrat in over 40 years, and both are true," said Mr. Peduto.

Precincts won by Mr. DeSantis were almost entirely in Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, Point Breeze, Highland Park, North Oakland and Friendship. That suggests that affluent residents weren't swayed by Mr. Ravenstahl's message, got mad at perceived abuses of the perks of office, or both.

"I know my opponent spent a lot of time in the 14th Ward [Squirrel Hill and Point Breeze] and the 7th Ward [Shadyside]," said Mr. Ravenstahl. "He mentions Bill Peduto's name in almost every chance he gets," he added, explaining why Mr. DeSantis did best in areas represented by the councilman.

Mr. DeSantis won just six precincts south of the rivers. Mike DeVanney, who managed the Republican's bid, said it's tough to craft a platform that appeals to progressives in the East End and social conservatives in some South Hills neighborhoods where "every other house has a Virgin Mary statue in front of it."

Presumably Mr. Ravenstahl could have run up a bigger margin had he aired television ads. Instead, he left some votes on the table to keep some money in the bank.

"In our campaign account, we have roughly $550,000 to $600,000 right now," he said. "Politically speaking, [not running ads] is the best decision I've ever made."

So it seemed yesterday to most observers. A serious misstep, crumbling infrastructure, labor strife or a budgetary meltdown could change the conventional wisdom.

"There's absolutely a clear favorite in the incumbent. He won the election decisively," said Michael Lamb, the Allegheny County prothonotary who was elected city controller on Tuesday. He'll have "18 months to prove that he can make this thing work. Those 18 months, I think, have to be handled better than has the past year."