OK, call me stupid and confused....
If GuyB is "managing" and running the notary nodes for GuyA, why wouldn't we just vote for GuyB?
If GuyB doesn't pay for VOTES, but GuyC does, then GuyA will send his VOTES to GuyC, or GuyD if he's offering a better deal.
Last year was an anomaly, not many candidates, this time around there'll be a lot more.
The thing I want to know is do the the top30 nodes from last year ever face elections again, or if they continue being in the top half do they avoid elections until they drop to the bottom half.
So, in short, the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor.