As the song goes…”another one bites the dust.” This week two candidates decided to end their campaigns.. The first to throw in the towel is L.A. City Mayoral candidate Ramit Varma who put his support behind Rick Caruso. Like Caruso, Varma largely self-funded his campaign. The founder of an online tutoring company, Varma loaned his campaign $4 million – a mere pittance when compared to the $30 million Caruso has given to his campaign. Varma’s decision to leave the race follows in the footsteps of candidates Joe Buscaino and Mike Feuer.
The second candidate to make an exodus was L.A. City Controller candidate Rob Wilcox. Wilcox made the decision to leave the race, throwing his support behind candidate Paul Kortez.
Although the candidates have declared the end of their candidacies, their names are still on millions of ballots sitting in the homes of voters. We will have to wait and see if leaving the campaign trail helps the candidates they have now endorsed. Folks around the Water Cooler wonder if the candidates who dropped out will actually vote for the candidates they now support or cast a vote for themselves – it’s a secret ballot so no one will know.