“After a lot of thought and prayer and talking with friends and family I am not going to run for the City Council position,” McCutchen said. “I’ve talked with Kevin Fisher and Ben Brantley and Troy Roberts, and my goal is to have someone who is pro business and fiscally conservative fill Kirkman’s shoes there, and I think one of thsoe three would do a fine job with that.”

Columbia Planning Commission member Mark James has already dropped out. For those of you keeping score, that leaves:

• John Adams, a residential Realtor with Bollin Ligon Walker Realty who serves on the board of Historic Columbia and is a son of former Mayor Patton Adams
• Ben Brantley, a commercial Realtor with CB Richard Ellis who serves on the board of the EdVenture children’s museum
• Kevin Fisher, who ran a hard-fought race against Mayor Bob Coble in 2006 and is president of Fisher Communications, an advertising and public relations firm
• Troy Roberts, a State Farm insurance agent who is originally from Sumter.