In general, there were no surprises in yesterday's primary elections, particularly in the City of Rochester, where all of the Democratic Party's designated candidates won. But that doesn't mean there was nothing interesting in the results. Here's what we noticed:

Six of the nine members of the next City Council will be women, barring a real upset in the November general election. (Harry Davis, who came in a distant 10th yesterday, will be on the ballot in November on the Working Families line. Republicans aren't running any candidates for Council.)

Yesterday's winners were Loretta Scott, Jackie Ortiz, incumbent Carolee Conklin, Matt Haag, and incumbent Dana Miller. Odds are they'll join Lovely Warren, Carla Palumbo, Elaine Spaull, and Adam McFadden on Council in January.

Party designation mattered. Every candidate chosen at the Democrats' convention last spring won in yesterday's primary. The party has resources - phone banks, money, mailing operations - that challengers often don't have. But that doesn't always guarantee victory. Mayor Bob Duffy beat the Democrats' designated candidate in a primary four years ago, for instance. This year, though, most of the voters who turned out seemed happy with the candidates their party had selected, choosing them over the challengers. And it wasn't easy: the Democratic primary ballot was a weird one, with all City Council and School Board candidates on a single row: 21 candidates strung out across the top of the ballot. Voters obviously sought out the candidates they wanted, regardless of their sometimes terrible ballot position. Jos� Cruz, for example, won in the School Board primary, despite his being the last name listed.

Name recognition doesn't always rule. Two City Council incumbents - John Lightfoot and Gladys Santiago - lost yesterday. Santiago is Council president, and Lightfoot's is a prominent political-family name. Current School Board member Tom Brennan also failed in his attempt to get a seat on City Council.

Two of the five winners yesterday - Matt Haag and Jackie Ortiz - had little community visibility before the primary campaign. Haag, in fact, moved to Rochester only a couple of years ago. Another non-incumbent, Loretta Scott, got the most votes of all Council candidates. Some voters probably did recognize Scott's name; she was parks and recreation commissioner under former Mayor Bill Johnson. But she left that office nearly four years ago - and appointed commissioners aren't as visible as elected Council members.

Negative campaigning didn't work. Three candidates - Chili Supervisor David Dunning, Democratic County Legislator Carrie Andrews, and Rochester School Board member Cynthia Elliott - were victims of harsh, ugly, last-minute campaign mailings. All three won yesterday. In fact, some Democrats speculate that the anti-Andrews material drove people to the polls in that district - to vote for Andrews.

The mayor has become quite the pol. When Bob Duffy ran for office four years ago, he was a political novice, lured out of his job as the city's police chief. He said then that he would learn the political ropes fast, and he has - and the Democrats are loving his popularity. As this year's primary campaign wound to a close, he was highly visible, appearing in photos with the designated candidates and holding a press conference to tout the candidates he endorsed and slap a couple he hadn't. Summarizing the campaign this morning, the Monroe Democrats' spokesman, Sean Hart, talked about candidates excelling "under the leadership of Mayor Duffy."

But it's possible to win without his blessing. Duffy pointedly did not endorse one candidate who had been selected by the Democratic Party: School Board member Van White. White won handily anyway, leading the School Board ticket and pulling the third- highest number of votes of any of the candidates for city office.

Voters are woefully apathetic. Yesterday's Democratic primary was the only chance city residents will have this year to vote for City Council and School Board members. But just over 8 percent of registered Democrats showed up. That, Council member Adam McFadden said this morning, "means that a candidate that gets 2,000 votes can control a city of 200,000 people."

"I was very discouraged by the low turnout," McFadden said. "It says there is a huge amount of apathy in this community. It makes the job so much more difficult. A huge percent of the complaints I get are from people who don't participate, which is very frustrating."

"Not voting in the primary in the City of Rochester when you're a Democrat - I just don't get it," McFadden said.