Marsh drops out and backs Bustamante

Westminster City Councilman Kermit Marsh dropped out of the race for the 1st Supervisorial District today – and he endorsed Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante in the process, according to Red County/OC Blog.

Another Republican candidate, Lupe Moreno, also dropped out recently and endorsed Bustamante as well. And Red County/OC Blog writer Mark Leyes, who used to serve on the Garden Grove City Council, also endorsed Bustamante this week.

Does any of this mean that Bustamante is pulling away from the other Republican candidates? No. It just means that some of the candidates are reading the tea leaves and jumping ship before the Umberg tsunami runs them over.

Ryan Williams has been walking precincts in north Santa Ana for his preferred candidate, Garden Grove City Councilwoman Janet Nguyen. He tells me that voters are mentioning Nguyen and former Santa Ana Councilman Brett Franklin – but no mention of Bustamante. Williams also recently called 150 high-propensity GOP voters in Santa Ana, and only one noted that he was supporting Bustamante.

Franklin has also been walking precincts in north Santa Ana, and he too has found zero support for Bustamante. In fact many residents think that Franklin is still their council representative.

Bustamante has only been on the Santa Ana City Council for two years – before that he had zero visibility in the community. He likewise became a Republican when he ran for the Council – and he has zero credibility as a Republican. He has been a vocal supporter of Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido’s Democrat puppet candidates in the last year.

I do believe that Marsh is trying to do the right thing by pulling out and backing Bustamante. However, I don’t think this will do much for Bustamante. Nor will this put him over the top against Umberg.

I do anticipate that Bustamante and his backers are going to try to get him endorsed by the OC GOP Central Committee at their meeting this Monday night. I hope they fail. I have been saying this for some time – Janet Nguyen is the only remaining Republican woman in the race. There are simply too many men in this race. She has a great chance to prevail over the other Republicans. Can she defeat Umberg? Maybe – but that depends on whether or not anyone is going to start sending out mail hit pieces on him anytime soon.

Marsh apparently sent out a press release, which was published at Red County/OC Blog. In it he said that, “Carlos will not

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