Last week, it came out that one of Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich‘s longtime aides had spread rumors about Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley having an extramarital affair. The aide in question, Joseph Steffen, resigned after it came to light that he was spreading the rumors via emails and conservative websites (sorry, I don’t know which websites, otherwise I would have linked to them). Mayor O’Malley asked Gov. Ehrlich for an apology to his wife and kids, and Ehlich responded by saying he didn’t need to give an apology, as he himself did no wrong. Makes you think of high school, doesn’t it? “OMG, did you hear, X & Y were $%!^@ behind the bleachers!?! What a slut! But you didn’t hear it from me…”

The interesting thing is the possible fallout from this mess. Ehrlich is the current (Republican) governor of Maryland, and is up for re-election in 2006. Mayor O’Malley (Democrat) is considered to be a candidate for the governor’s chair for that election. Also considered a possible candidate for governor is Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan (also Democrat). It seems very early now, but this story seems to be the start of an interesting election season in Maryland.