(WSBT) People are talking about the large margin of difference in the race for mayor in South Bend.

Mayor Steve Luecke beat Republican challenger Juan Manigault by getting 62 percent of the vote. Manigault pulled in 38 percent.

The 24 percent difference surprised a lot of people. Even Luecke’s own party says they thought they would win, but only by 10 percent to 15 percent.

It's time to pack up at the Juan Manigault headquarters after a tough campaign.

“It was an uphill fight from the get-go,” exclaimed Manigault.

But some are now calling it an easy win for Mayor Steve Luecke.

“I think a lot of people have a lot of tendency in this city to just vote party line and you get what you get,” said Manigault.

The last WSBT/South Bend Tribune poll showed Luecke ahead by only 10 points.

“It was a much larger victory than I thought we would get. I'm very pleased with it,” said Butch Morgan, Democratic Party Chair in St. Joseph County.

Polling experts point to those who had been undecided.

“Undecideds clearly, clearly broke for the incumbent, and one of the things we said in our final analysis was that Luecke was close, but he hadn't quite sealed the deal because he wasn't over 50 percent in that final poll. Clearly he did seal the deal overwhelmingly,” said polling expert Del Ali of Research 2000.

Democrats credit a big push for votes including hundreds of signs, thousands of phone calls and countless volunteers.

But it may be just one mailing that helped out even more — a postcard from the state Republican Party depicting a tombstone for the city of South Bend.

“We received a lot of phone calls. People were concerned about that postcard. They were upset about it. They took it personal and that translated into more votes for Steve Luecke,” said Morgan.

But Manigault disagrees.

“People can use that as a reason, but that did not hurt our campaign," Manigault said. "It painted a picture of reality in South Bend.”

The WorkForce Development audit is another issue Manigault says may have hurt his campaign. It questioned how federal money was spent while Manigault was head of the agency.

Manigault claims it was a personal attack that not only curbed their momentum, but he believes it caused people who may have supported him to not vote at all.

However, Manigault also says he has no regrets and is not yet ruling out the possibility that he'll run again.