Kweisi Mfume

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So after spending the past few weeks in Pennsylvania, Kweisi Mfume is now in North Carolina organizing voters on behalf of Barack Obama.

Losing the 2006 Senate primary might not have been the end of his political career.

Martin O'Malley partied in Philly. 

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend inched over Indiana.

Kweisi Mfume and Rushern Baker hit the pavement in Pittsburgh.

The financial cost of special elections to replace Rep. Al Wynn is surely weighing heavily on the mind of Gov. Martin O’Malley, who's been tightening the belt in Annapolis.

What’s still not clear is whether O’Malley has to call the election within 10 days of the resignation itself, expected for June, or the announcement, in which we're at nine and counting ("[W]ithin 10 days after the date that the vacancy occurs or becomes known to the Governor."). Right now, it looks like the June resignation, which would mean a summer special election.

Seven months will remain on Rep. Al Wynn’s (D-Mitchellville) term when he resigns from Maryland’s 4th Congressional District in June. According to the Maryland State Code, Election Law, subsection 8-710- Congressional vacancy - Governor's proclamation, Gov. Martin O’Malley has the right to order a special primary and special general election to fill the seat, if he so desires, within ten days after the vacancy occurs or becomes known to him.

He also has the right to leave the position open, according to Raquel Guillory, a spokesperson for Attorney General Doug Gansler. O’Malley has yet to make a statement in regards to the matter, and telephone calls left with his press office have yet to be returned.

A similar event occurred in Maryland in April 1996, when Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Baltimore) was elected to fill the open position in the Seventh Congressional District, vacated by Kweisi Mfume (D-Baltimore), who resigned to become president of the NAACP.

Reducing crime is one of the most important issues facing Prince George’s County today, according to Adrion Howell (D-Glenn Dale), a local lobbyist and former liaison to Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson.

Howell vowed to work to “increase the size of the police force” in the county, if he is elected to fill the open District 5 county council seat vacated by state Sen. David Harrington (D-Cheverly), who was promoted to the General Assembly following the death of Gwendolyn Britt.

Some comedy from Hillary Clinton’s White House schedules, released by the National Archives yesterday, a la the Washington Post.

Besides Kennedy Townsend and Cummings, two other Maryland notables ventured out of stated for the presidential primary in Ohio, both for Obama.

Peter Franchot hit the pavement in Youngstown, while Kweisi Mfume fired up canvassers in Cincinatti.

Several candidates have already declared their intentions to fill the open District 5 Prince George’s County Council seat, vacated by David Harrington, who replaced the deceased Gwendolyn Britt in the state Senate.

Andrea Fletcher Harrison, a longtime aide to Harrington, has announced her candidacy to fill the seat. Harrison is the daughter of former council member James C. Fletcher, Jr. In 2002, she ran for a House Delegate position in District 24, but did not make it past the Democratic primary.

While Harrington’s support for Harrison may help her bid, Adrion Howell, another candidate, has the backing of Kweisi Mfume, the former president of the NAACP and Maryland congressman.

Howell, a Democratic strategist, is also reported to be actively seeking the endorsement of Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson. The two men are close, and Howell used to serve as Johnson’s liaison to the county council.

Tomorrow, 2006 U.S. Senate candidate Kweisi Mfume will endorse Donna Edwards in the Fourth District Democratic primary for the U.S. House of Representatives.

The endorsement will take place next week, Thursday, January 24.

Mfume is the former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a position for which he ended his five-term stint as a Congressman from Baltimore. He narrowly lost the 2006 Democratic primary to Sen. Ben Cardin by 3.2% in a crowded primary field.