Pepper's favorite candidates (Thursday remix)

It seems that any time you get a room full of politicians at an event, the speaker feels obliged to recognize and introduce every candidate in the room. And some politicians seem to live in perpetual fear of accidentally leaving someone off the list.

That's what happened to David Pepper Wednesday when he was asked about his "dream team" of council candidates.

While stopping just short of calling it an "endorsement," he said he likes the group that has endorsed him -- Republicans John Eby and Leslie Ghiz and Democrats Cecil Thomas and Wendell P. Young -- plus these Democrats: Jeff Berding, Eve Bolton, Laketa Cole, John Cranley and David C. Crowley.

That's a tidy, bipartisan list of nine candidates. But Pepper campaign manager Greg Landsman e-mailed today to say that his boss never meant to exclude other candidates:

Pepper stated yesterday that he believes this year's slate of council candidates -- both incumbents and challengers -- is the best and most talented in recent history. According to Pepper, there are strong candidates beyond those mentioned yesterday -- like Chris Bortz, Sam Herd and others -- which he looks forward to working with.

Bortz is a Charterite; Herd is a Democrat. And that means Pepper's team now includes 11 candidates -- putting him two over the legal limit -- and every Democrat except Damon Lynch III (who has endorsed Mark Mallory for mayor).

Who are these "other" candidates he looks forward to working with? Stay tuned.