Two bomb threats interrupted mayor-elect Bob O'Connor's election night victory party Tuesday, although Pittsburgh police did not consider them serious enough to evacuate celebrants or hotel guests. Police escorted O'Connor from the gala at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel about 15 minutes after a 911 dispatcher received the first threat at 10:50 p.m. -- but only after O'Connor stayed long enough to finish at least one live television interview for the 11 p.m. news. O'Connor had the option of staying or leaving the party, police said. The first call came from a pay phone in the hotel lobby, police said. The second came at 11:15 p.m. from a phone inside the Station Square mall. Dispatchers said both times the caller sounded like a woman. "If I'd known there was a bomb threat, I can promise you that I would have gotten out of there pronto," said John McIntire, a political commentator who said he stayed at the party until about 11:15 p.m. City Councilman Dan Deasy, who arrived at the party as O'Connor was leaving, said he heard "whispers in the hallway" about the bomb threat. He did not go inside, saying he only went there to see O'Connor. He said people who knew about the threats did not seem panicked. O'Connor's victory celebration was scheduled to end at 10:30 p.m., but the candidate and some guests lingered at least a half-hour longer. Pittsburgh police officers escorted O'Connor's family from the hotel after the first call, but did not rush them from the building. City Councilman Doug Shields said he was talking with a group of people in a hallway when a plainclothes officer asked them to "move along," explaining that police had received a bomb threat. "The hall was pretty much emptying out anyway," Shields said. As mayor-elect who will take office in January, O'Connor doesn't have a police officer assigned to accompany him. His campaign hired two uniformed off-duty officers to monitor the ballroom at the election party, and one non-uniformed officer to stay with O'Connor. Mayor Tom Murphy has a police officer assigned to travel with him to events. He had officers positioned outside his North Side home after announcing layoffs in 2004. The City-County Building has received bomb threats in the past. Officers searched the hotel but found no reason to evacuate the building, said police Cmdr. William Joyce, who termed the threat an "uneventful situation." He said it "looked like more of a hoax." "(The officers) didn't believe there was a real threat," Joyce said. Police officers watched hotel security videos to look for the caller, but the cameras do not show the lobby corner where the phone is located. They also dusted the phone for fingerprints, but many people had handled the phone. O'Connor's campaign staff took the threats "very seriously," but followed the hotel management's decision not to evacuate the guests, spokesman Dick Skrinjar said. As O'Connor was leaving, the campaign turned off the music and television screens and encouraged guests to leave, he said. "We discussed whether we should evacuate the room," Skrinjar said. "The consideration was that would create a major league panic." Hotel management took its lead from Pittsburgh police, said Gordon Seaman, general manager of the Sheraton Station Square. Seaman was at home when the calls came in, but said he went back to the hotel. "It was all over before it started," he said.

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