State by State

Maryland

Democratic congressional candidate Donna Edwards was endorsed by the 40,000-member United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 on Wednesday.

{mosads}In announcing its support, the union was joined by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Maryland State Council and several SEIU chapters.

Edwards is challenger Rep. Albert Wynn (D) in a primary for the second consecutive cycle.

— Aaron Blake

Mississippi

Sen. Trent Lott (R) officially resigned from the Senate on Tuesday, clearing the way for an appointment that is due before the end of the year and a potential controversy over the date of the special election.

Reps. Chip Pickering (R) and Roger Wicker (R) are considered the front-runners for the appointment, which will be made by Gov. Haley Barbour (R).

A Barbour spokesman said Wednesday afternoon that he had not been officially informed of the vacancy.

Barbour has said he will set the special election for November 2008, on the same day as the presidential election, but Democrats have contested his reading of the election rules and could take the issue to court.

The rules say the special must be held within 100 days of a vacancy, unless it occurs in the same year as a general election. There was a general election this year, but it already took place, in early November. So Barbour would be using a technicality and setting the special for the next general election date.

The attorney general’s office, led by Democrat Jim Hood, has sided with the Democrats, while outgoing Democratic Secretary of State Eric Clark is siding with Barbour.

— A.B.

New Hampshire

Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D) has come under attack from Republicans for using her office funds to purchase access to a state Democratic Party voter file.

According to the Concord Monitor, Shea-Porter spent $5,000 on the list, which her office says included only the names of her constituents and no party information and will not be used for campaign purposes.

The office of the freshman representative said it needed to build a list for constituent mailings and other purposes, and the state party list was the best list for the cheapest price.

State GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen called the purchase “essentially … a political contribution to the New Hampshire Democratic Party using taxpayer dollars.”

The state Democratic Party has previously accused the GOP of violating Federal Election Commission (FEC) law by giving its voter file to candidates for free without reporting any in-kind donations. It said Monday that it has filed a complaint with the FEC.

— A.B.

Oregon

Sen. Gordon Smith (R), already a target of Democrats, may also get a challenge from the right next year.

Mary Starrett, the executive director of Oregonians for Life, isn’t ruling out a run for Smith’s seat.

“Anything’s possible … and let’s face it, Gordon Smith needs a spanking, don’t you think?” she wrote in an e-mail to the blog Senate 2008 Guru. Starrett took more than 3 percent as the Constitution Party’s candidate for governor last year and now serves as the party’s national communications director.

If she runs, she would join Smith, Democrats Jeff Merkley and Steve Novick, and Independent John Frohnmayer as candidates.

A recent poll commissioned by Frohnmayer shows that there could be room for a third-party bid. In the Riley Research survey, Smith received support from 39 percent of those polled, Frohnmayer got 14 percent and Merkley claimed 12 percent. Novick was not included in the poll.

-Walter Alarkon

Virginia

State Del. Bob Marshall will soon announce whether he intends to run against former Gov. Jim Gilmore for the Republican nomination for Senate in 2008.

Marshall said on WTOP radio last Friday that his decision would come by the end of this week. He hadn’t made any announcements by press time Wednesday.

“My wife will let me know when I’m running,” Marshall joked, before adding: “I am seriously thinking about it, and I am going to make a decision within the next week.

“I’m getting ‘All signals go,’ but haven’t stepped over that line yet.”

— A.B.