Two months ago, when Charlie Luken took an embarrassing licking at the hands of Courtis Fuller in the mayoral primary, only about one of every 10 voters in the vast West Side neighborhoods showed up to vote. Tuesday, they had a lot more company.

        The mayoral primary was held on Sept. 11 — the same day of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Tuesday, they had no such distractions. And the West Side voter — mostly white, more conservative, more Republican and more used to voting for candidates named Luken — came out in far greater numbers.

        On Sept. 11 in Ward 25, which includes Covedale, only 13 percent of the voters showed up. Tuesday, by 4 p.m., one Covedale precinct already had 43 percent turnout.

        Many of those voters were Republicans, who had no party candidate in the election. Their choices were Mr. Luken, a Democrat, and Mr. Fuller, endorsed by the Charter Committee. But that didn't mean they didn't vote for mayor.

        “I suspect that when our voters pulled the curtain, they voted for mayor,” said Michael Barrett, chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party.

        The turnout in predominately black neighborhoods of Cincinnati — where Mr. Fuller ran extremely strong in the Sept. 11 primary — was higher than normal, but not high enough.

        Early results Tuesday had Mr. Fuller ahead with strong support from black neighborhoods.

        But not 10 minutes later, new numbers flashed across the TV screen at the board — 14 precincts from Covedale, six from Price Hill, a substantial block from predominately white neighborhoods that have been voting for people named Luken for more than 30 years.

        The Fuller campaign counted on an extraordinarily high turnout in the black community. It was high Tuesday — 36 percent — but not enough.

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