Some of those in the room knew something was up as soon as Charlie Luken walked in.

As mayor, Luken rarely attends the Democratic City Council caucus meetings each week.

Last week, during a discussion of the Republican television ad attacking David Pepper, John Cranley and David Crowley, Luken let it out.

He's definitely running for re-election when his four-year term is up in 2005. Then he moved on to how he intends to organize committee assignments for the 39th City Council.

The caucus meetings are closed to the public and Luken declined to elaborate.

"I think it's important that the Democratic caucus knows what I'm thinking," Luken said. "I have no intention of talking about it beyond that."

But everyone who needed to hear it did, and word quickly leaked out. Democrats say the message was clear: I'm running for mayor. You're not. I control committee assignments. We'll have a hard enough time doing battle with Republican mayoral aspirants without internecine squabbles.

So, for the record, here's what prominent City Council Democrats say about their plans: Crowley said he has never had mayoral aspirations, and Cranley said he would not run against Luken, a close friend and mentor.

But Pepper and Alicia Reece won't rule themselves out.

How they finish in Tuesday's City Council election - and they're expected to be first and second, in no particular order - could determine who has standing to challenge Luken in two years.

Don't ask, don't McTell

Last-minute dirty trick campaigns don't work if the candidate you're attacking readily admits to what you're accusing him of.

One e-mail accuses Charterite Nick Spencer of lying about his resume by downplaying his work on U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's 2000 re-election campaign to the Senate in Missouri. The e-mail, written by someone with the alias Will McTell, said, "We are tired of a liar being the face of Cincinnati's creative class."

Spencer's reaction: Busted.

"Nobody brags about being associated with John Ashcroft these days. It's not a big secret. It's not like I'm going through insane lengths to hide it," he said.

Spencer actually called reporters to alert them to the e-mail.

"At least I'm not irrelevant," the 25-year-old candidate said.

It's difficult to prove who's behind the attack, but the e-mail holds some clues: the author is about Spencer's age, probably works at City Hall, is involved in the local music scene and has a political ax to grind.

And he's a fan of country-blues singer Blind Willie McTell.

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com