Doug Crew has pulled out of the fifth district council race, canceling the need for a primary there. That leaves Dan Irving and Gloria Cassel-Fitzgerald, both of whom ran two years ago for at-large council seats.

In the at-large race, the top five vote-getters each won a seat on the council. Irving came in sixth. Cassel-Fitzgerald came in ninth. Taking a look at the precinct results, Irving got more votes than Cassel-Fitzgerald in every precinct in the fifth district. Of course, past performance is no guarantee of future results, but this is a good sign for Dan. (Full disclosure: I supported Dan Irving in the 2007 at-large election.)

Something else that would help Irving is if he can pull in the same endorsements he picked up two years ago, which included Ray LaHood, Jim Ardis, and Patrick Nichting.