The pool of potential candidates for Santa Fe's 2010 Municipal Election kept shifting this week with a handful of announcements and hints.

Mayor David Coss, already an announced candidate for re-election, could face his former city manager, Asenath Kepler, for the citywide post.

Kepler, a former city attorney whom the City Council fired as city manager in 2006, said Thursday that she's getting closer to making a final decision about seeking the mayor's chair. She planned to meet today with supporters at Hubbell Electro-Mechanical to continue talking about her possible candidacy.

"We are still fact gathering. I am not making an announcement tomorrow," she said Thursday. "But it is looking more and more as though this is going to happen."

She has been making noises about running for office for a few months, but had been waiting for movement from longtime Councilor Patti Bushee, a friend of Kepler's, who has also publicly entertained the idea of running for mayor.

Bushee confirmed Thursday that she has decided not to enter the race.

"To be honest, I wasn't really considering it that strongly," Bushee said. "I have aging parents that live several thousand miles away. I need to be available to fly back and take care of them when necessary. It's a lifestyle choice at this point."

Bushee's term on the council does not expire until 2012. She ran for mayor in 2002, losing to Larry Delgado in a four-way contest.

In May, Coss made an early announcement that he would seek a second term. He held a fundraising birthday party this week at the New Mexico Film Museum.

No other candidates have emerged. Traditionally, city candidates don't announce their intentions until around Fiesta weekend, which this year begins Sept. 11.

Kepler, who also has a background in banking, said her deliberations don't have anything to do with Coss' role in her ouster from City Hall.

"I do not harbor any grudges and I do not harbor any bad will," she said. "That is the past and we've got to move forward."

Council seats in each of the city's four districts will also be on the March 10 ballot.

KSFR radio host John "The Jazzman" Greenspan had said earlier that he would challenge incumbent Councilor Chris Calvert in the north-side District 1, but circulated an e-mail Wednesday that said otherwise.

"Due to a series of events plus a few that might happen, I have reluctantly decided that I cannot run for City Council," he wrote. "Thank you for your support and please get behind Asenath Kepler's run for mayor."

Kepler has been a regular guest on a KSFR political talk show hosted by Greenspan.

In District 2, on the city's southeast side, Councilor Rebecca Wurzburger has not yet announced whether she will seek re-election to what would be her third four-year term.

In the southwest-side District 3, Carmichael Dominguez officially told the city clerk Thursday that he is campaigning for his seat for a second term.

In the south-side District 4, Councilor Ronald Trujillo plans to seek election to a second term but said he is waiting until later this month to make it official.

Candidates have several months to consider their plans. To get on the ballot, they must gather sufficient signatures of registered voters for nominating petitions. Paperwork for carrying out that process will be available in October, with a December deadline for completion. Formal declarations of candidacy are filed with the city clerk in January.

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.