STRATTON IS 52 VOTES AWAY FROM VICTORY.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: MIKE GOODWIN Staff writer

Brian U. Stratton will have to wait at least one more day to find out if he'll be the city's next mayor.

The 46-year-old Democrat had a 275-vote lead over Republican Peter J. Guidarelli after election commissioners and attorneys counted 332 absentee ballots Wednesday. Another 381 ballots remain to be opened today, but Stratton only needs 52 to win.

``Things are going the way we expect them to,'' Stratton said shortly before the vote was suspended for the night. ``At the end of the counting, I'm still going to be the next mayor.''

Stratton increased his lead by 22 votes from where it stood after affidavit …