Raleigh City Council candidate Bill Shakespeare is withdrawing from the race for the at-large seat, he told the Indy today. That leaves Lee Sartain, Champ Claris and incumbents Mary-Ann Baldwin and Russ Stephenson competing for two seats.

And a hat tip to The News & Observer, which reported that Chris Augustine is leaving the District 2 Wake School Board race. It sounds like Augustine didn’t have the political appetite for the job. Here’s his statement, as reported by The N&O:

“The task to implement the cuts imposed by the State will be onerous to whoever is elected to the Wake County Board of Education district #2. Even to a person with an MBA like me, he or she would have to be insane to want this herculean task, especially this year. The position has no revenue authority but it has mandates from the County, the State and the Federal government to cut costs in a draconian fashion. I can only imagine what will be cut: foreign languages, art, and/or music. The sizes of classes will undoubtedly be increased and programs for the gifted as well as challenged will be sliced. And I wouldn’t be surprised if magnet schools were cut. I for one would have liked to have questioned some of the Federal unfunded mandates. I would have liked to have increased competition between the schools by allowing parents to choose their own schools. And I would have liked to have fought to get the social policy agendas out of our school system. But alas any new ideas will probably be drown out by the upcoming pain. My name will remain on the ballot, but I am not going to actively campaign. I wish the best for whoever wins; they will surely need it.”

That leaves four contenders for District 2: Carlene Lucas, Horace Tart, John Tedesco and Cathy Truitt.