A world where a candidate for public office didn’t need to hold fundraisers and court donators? Where ideas mattered more than money? For some candidates this year, including some winning ones, that world didn’t seem so far off.

Dennis Carlone, one of four challengers winning a seat in Tuesday’s election, is taking the most significant step in preparation for a recount by holding a legal fee fundraiser Nov. 17 – two days after a vote count becomes official.

Despite 11 hours spent poring over 2,386 auxiliary ballots from throughout the city, election officials said the candidates making up the City Council and School Committee for the next two years didn’t change in Wednesday’s unofficial election results.

It was a moderately good night for council challengers, as Tuesday’s unofficial election results saw four elected to Cambridge’s nine-seat City Council and two to the six-seat School Committee. But longtime councillor Ken Reeves may have lost a 24-year seat.

Cambridge’s 34 candidates for City Council and School Committee go into Tuesday’s elections with the largest number of voters in more than a decade.

We’re fortunate that we get to rank our candidates for City Council and School Committee rather than cast a zero-sum ballot. But this game is to identify the single-most indispensable challenger and incumbent for each elected body.

Leland Cheung has quickly become my business’ most valued advocate in City Hall, an experience I’ve since learned has been shared by many. Just like when he was in venture capital, Leland loves to bring ideas to life.

My Anybody But Him/Her list starts with the usual cast of suspects: the council members who vote yes to practically any upzoning petition that comes their way.

In addition to thinking about businesses and how businesses can contribute to the community, Leland Cheung is radically responsive. He lists his cellphone everywhere, and many residents have experienced e-mailing the entire council and hearing back only from Leland.

Despite it being the night of a Red Sox World Series game and at least the ninth candidates forum of the election season, about 50 parent voters came Wednesday to the the city’s high school for a final glimpse at their School Committee options Nov. 5.