Certified list trumps the "pre-election"

You can still vote for Ricardo Lara or Arturo Chavez on June 3, but it won't do you much good. Both will be on the ballot for legislative seats, as confirmed by the Secretary of State's certified list of candidates.

Once a person certifies his or her candidacy, there's no turning back -- from the ballot. But that doesn't keep the Powers That Be from enticing, or chasing, candidates out of the race. Call it the pre-election, which narrows the voters' choices even before the primary.

You recall, of course, that in the race to succeed speaker and 46th Assemblyman Fabian Nuñez, Lara was vying with labor official John Perez -- who happens to be Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's cousin -- but dropped out about the time Villaraigosa appointed him to the city Planning Commission. Arturo Chavez, an aide to state Sen. Gil Cedillo, also dropped out. Anthony York of Capitol Weekly reported that the moves followed meetings between Nuñez, Villaraigosa, and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor leader Maria Elena Durazo.

Jerome Horton dropped out of his state Senate race against Mervyn Dymally and Roderick Wright in time to keep his name off the ballot.