Inside Nithya Raman's improbable campaign for L.A. mayor

The first volunteers gathered in the back house of Nithya Raman's Silver Lake home with little besides a whiteboard counting down the number of days until the June 2 primary election. Raman had jumped into the Los Angeles mayor's race the day before, right at the Feb. 7 filing deadline. Her campaign didn't have an office, a bank account, a campaign treasurer, or even a proper website. It lacked, put simply, "the most basic things," said Ian Manheimer, Raman's campaign manager, who joined the team after a 10 p.m. call from Raman the night before the filing deadline. There would be a meeting the next day in Raman's backyard accessory dwelling unit to get things rolling. "For anyone who suspected Nithya had designs on this for a long time, you could just come to the ADU and that would dispel those notions," Manheimer said.