Maryland’s oldest maximum-security prison, the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup, has closed.

Extreme Mortman reader RichardA, a veteran of Maryland and Maryland-related politics, wonders the fate of the prison’s most famous political prisoner, Willie Horton.

Horton was transferred there on April 18, 1996, no thanks to Michael Dukakis.

No word on Horton’s whereabouts since.  Please remain calm but vigiliant, be on the lookout — and report to your local law enforcement authorities any suspicious looking negative ads.

Prepping for the Colts-Bears Super Bowl, Ken Rudin shares this button in the new Political Junkie:

Read this Hellenic News of America press release and discover a hidden gem — for lovers of Congressional and political trivia:

This quality of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was also demonstrated when more Members of the U.S. Congress cosponsored the bill to bestow the Congressional Gold Medal on Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew than any bill in recorded Congressional history

Movie director Robert Altman’s death allows us to revist his greatest contribution to politics – the HBO series “Tanner ‘88.”

Some memories:

The wise ones who wrote the U.S. Constitution didn’t ask for it.  And its ugly southwest D.C. buidling is really 10 floors of basement.  But the Department of Housing and Urban Development — HUD, as I used to call it when I worked there; it caught on — produces more than its share of political celebrities.

The list of former HUD Secretaries includes such bombshell political names (if your house is full of political junkies) as Jack Kemp (my boss there), Henry Cisneros, Andrew Cuomo, and Mel Martinez, who’ll now head up the Republican National Committee.

Of course, the former Secretary whom no one really mentions anymore — the Secretary whom one legendary President otherwise occupied with defeating Communism and cutting taxes referred to as “Mr. Mayor” — is Samuel Pierce.  With Pierce at the helm the place turned into a swamp of favoritism and cronyism and investigations.  In other words, he turned it into a small government advocate’s dream — doing more to potentially shut the place down than any other wishful thinker ever has.

A history-making Senate campaign in Maryland indeed.  Kevin Zeese sends this note to Ken Rudin’s “Political Junkie” column:

It’s a three-candidate race. I’m the third candidate, and I’ve been nominated by the Green, Libertarian and Populist Parties. This is the first time that even two of those parties nominated the same candidate anywhere in the U.S. A historic first.

Yes, a real Maryland three-way.  Not including Cindy Sheehan:

Duncan Hunter wants to run for president.  Political trivia lovers surely remember that the last Southern California Republican member of Congress to run for president was B1 Bob Dornan, circa 1996.

This is critical to stipulate so we can nostalgically salute Dornan’s entry into the lexicon of classic, stirring, statesmanlike political speeches.  From his 1995 announcement:

“Here’s my Clinton countdown watch showing 572 days until the election. Sallie, what’s your counting down until the inauguration? 648! Just add 76 days to mine and you have the inauguration day. I’m counting the hours and the days until we send the Clintons packing.”

Sen. Barack Obama’s reason for considering a 2008 presidential run — “Given the responses that I’ve been getting over the last several months, I have thought about the possibility” — hardly seems compelling.  Yes, great press and publicity have landed him on the cover of magazines, commanded long-form newspaper profiles, and got him on the top talk shows.  But the history of presidential campaigns is full of folks who got great press — but failed as candidates.  Consider this other media-fave Illionois Democratic Senator:

SmartMoney magazine takes a swipe at members of Congress in its November “10 Things: What Your Congressman Won’t Tell You.”

A sample:

Inside Congress author Ronald Kessler says that historically, most officers have operated under the mistaken impression that the Constitution prohibits arresting or even ticketing congressmen while Congress is in session. The belief was so prevalent that the Justice Department issued a statement in 1976 explaining the “previous policy of releasing members who had been arrested was based on a misunderstanding of the clause in the U.S. Constitution,” which forbids only civil arrest, not arrest for a crime.

Nonetheless, Capitol Police still coddle and avoid arresting members of Congress. For one thing, protecting congressmen is part of their mission. For another, Congress controls their budget — including top cops’ salaries.

Lovers of political history get this delightful news in today’s Washington Post:

Fairfax County students have launched a partnership with the organizers of the Cold War Museum and will conduct interviews for an oral history project to help preserve personal recollections of events such as the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban missile crisis. … Conceived by Francis Gary Powers Jr., the museum, which is awaiting final approval from the Fairfax County Park Authority, is planned for a site at the former Lorton prison and would sit above a onetime Nike missile base.  Powers dedicated himself to the project in memory of his father, Francis Gary Powers, who was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 while flying a U-2 spy plane. The elder Powers parachuted to safety but was captured and imprisoned. In February 1962, he was returned to the United States in exchange for a high-ranking Soviet agent. He died in 1977 when a TV traffic helicopter he was piloting crashed.

Check out the great relics at the Cold War Museum’s website.  Photos from the site: