The deadline for state and county candidates to qualify for the 2010 ballot is noon Friday.

So far no one has emerged to challenge school board member Paulette Burdick for the open Palm Beach County Commission seat that Jeff Koons is leaving because of term limits. Burdick’s Democratic primary foe, state Rep. Mary Brandenburg, announced Tuesday she’s withdrawing from the race.

And Democrat Steve Perman is the only candidate to qualify for the open state House District 78 seat that Rep. Kevin Rader is giving up to run for state Senate. Perman lost Democratic primaries for the seat in 2006 and 2008. Republican Alan St. Louis opened a campaign for the heavily Democratic seat last year, but withdrew in May.

It’s not unheard of for an incumbent to get a free pass to reelection, but it’s extremely rare for a candidate to walk into an open seat unopposed. State Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, won without an opponent in 2008. Longtime observers can’t remember the last time an open county commission seat was won without a challenge.

Term-limited state Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, just announced she’s abandoning her run for a Palm Beach County commission seat — leaving school board member and fellow Democrat Paulette Burdick as the only active candidate in the District 2 race.

UPDATE: Despite recent chatter, West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel says she’s not hopping into the county commission race. “Being a county commissioner would be a really great challenge but I made a commitment to do this job as mayor and I want to see it through,” said Frankel, whose term expires in March.

The deadline for candidates to qualify for the 2010 ballot is Friday at noon.

Brandenburg said she’s going to focus on her husband Pete’s campaign for her District 89 state House seat.

“Pete and I have always campaigned together and we’re finding that it is difficult to have two campaigns going on simultaneously. So we figured we’d do a good job with one campaign,” Mary Brandenburg said this afternoon.

Brandenburg’s name was floated by the Police Benevolent Association last month in a poll of potential 2011 candidates for mayor of West Palm Beach. She said she’s not interested in that race.

“I hate to say ‘never,’ but if I was going to say ‘never’ I would be tempted to say it now,” she said of the mayor’s race.

In this week’s Politics column, find out where GOP state Senate primary rivals Lizbeth Benacquisto and Sharon Merchant stand on the abortion ultrasound bill. Find out what motivated disgraced former Palm Beach County commissioner Warren Newell to break out the typewriter. Also, Mary Brandenburg on the West Palm Beach mayor’s poll and Michelle Damone on why she hasn’t filed against Commissioner Jess Santamaria.

A telephone poll conducted by the Police Benevolent Association this week asks respondents about declared 2011 West Palm Beach mayoral candidates Jeri Muoio and Molly Douglas and undeclared-but-considering-it candidate Kimberly Mitchell.

There’s also a favorable/unfavorable question about former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, who’s name has been floated as a potential mayoral candidate.

But the survey questions that have tongues wagging concern term-limited state Rep. Mary Brandenburg, a former city commissioner who’s running for Palm Beach County commission this year and says she’s not interested in a mayoral campaign.

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School board member Paulette Burdick has opened up a massive money-raising lead over state Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, in their 2010 Democratic primary race for the Palm Beach County commission seat of Jeff Koons, who’s leaving because of term limits.

Burdick raised another $15,004 between July 1 and Sept. 30, bringing her total to $44,222 so far. Brandenburg raised $600 in the quarter and has collected $2,350 overall.

Burdick’s haul included a $250 check from Koons.

Koons, who’s maintained a neutral posture in the race, was asked if his contribution constituted an endorsement of Burdick.

“Not per se,” Koons answered. But, he added, “Paulette does have the skill sets to be a good county commissioner.”

Just because Palm Beach County’s Democratic Party gave its blessing to a 14.9 percent countywide property tax rate hike doesn’t mean all Democratic candidates are on board.

“A 15 percent increase in the tax rate is unconscionable in the kind of economy we’re in right now,” said state Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, who’s running next year for the District 2 commission seat of term-limited Jeff Koons.

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State Rep. Mary Brandenburg lost $1,000 on Sunday when she was attacked by a team of pickpockets in a West Palm Beach Kmart.

In the store, a woman asked the West Palm Beach Democrat about different fabric-dye products while another woman unzipped Brandenburg’s pocketbook and nabbed the wallet.

“Many people come up to me for different reason,” Brandenburg told Page2live, “and I’m polite, so I talk to them. This sort of thing never happened to me. I’m astonished.”

The 60-year-old former West Palm commissioner lost $220 cash and had $800 in charges from an on-line music store.

Kmart security promised to review the store’s security tapes to id the suspects.

The long-awaited entry of West Palm Beach City Commissioner Bill Moss into the District 2 Palm Beach County commission race isn’t going to happen. Moss said this afternoon he’ll seek reelection to his city seat and will not run to replace term-limited County Commissioner Jeff Koons in 2010.

Moss was expected to enter a Democratic primary fray with school board member Paulette Burdick and state Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, for Koons’ heavily Democratic seat.

Moss offered best wishes to Brandenburg and Burdick, but said he won’t be endorsing either remaining candidate.

Moss said he heard from constituents who wanted him to stay on the city commission.

Rep. Mary Brandenburg, pictured far left, is planning a campaign for Palm Beach County Commission in 2010. Her fellow West Palm Beach Democrat, Priscilla Taylor, is hoping Gov. Charlie Crist appoints her to the panel next month. Those ambitions make their votes this morning to freeze impact fees for the next few years mildly interesting.

The women joined all the House Republicans and about half of the Democratic caucus in a 92-26 vote to freeze impact fees through 2011. The measure was cast as an economic development measure by sponsor, Rep. Gary Aubuchon, R-Cape Coral.

A similar measure is moving through the Senate.

LAKE WORTH — Former mayor Tom Ramiccio is planning to run for mayor again in November, when he expects current mayor Jeff Clemens to step down to pursue a 2010 campaign for state House to replace term-limited state Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach (who’s running for the county commission seat of term-limited Jeff Koons).

Clemens has shown interest in running for Brandenburg’s District 89 seat, but hasn’t made an official announcement. Pete Brandenburg, husband of the state House incumbent, has already launched a campaign. Clemens and Pete Brandenburg are both Democrats.

The national fight over ensuring secret ballots for union votes erupted Wednesday in an emotional quarrel between two Palm Beach County lawmakers that included one calling the other a “jerk” in a Florida House committee meeting.

Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, called Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, a “jerk” from her seat in the House Policy Committee. Her microphone was turned off, but her comment was audible from at least the third row in the meeting room.

Listen to their dialogue during the committee here. Then read the rest of the story here.

About 300 people showed up in front of the state Capitol today to hear Stuart Milk, left, nephew of slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk, support several gay rights bills introduced in the legislature this year. The rally with Milk, of Broward County, was organized by Equality Florida.

Two of the proposed changes he wants the legislature to approve come from Palm Beach County lawmakers.

Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, has legislation (HB 413) that would let gay couples adopt children.

Rep. Kelly Skidmore and Sen. Ted Deutch, both Boca Raton Democrats, have companion bills (SB 2012 & HB 397) that would make it illegal to fire someone or deny them housing based on sexual orientation.

Brandenburg’s bill hasn’t received a committee hearing the past two years and probably won’t fair much better this year. Skidmore told the crowd today the gay rights bills have an uphill climb in the legislature.

Longtime school board member Paulette Burdick tells our Laura Green that she will run for the Palm Beach County commission seat of term-limited Jeff Koons in 2010.

Burdick is a Democrat whose current term on the nonpartisan school board runs through 2012.

Term-limited state Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, has also opened a campaign for Koons’ District 2 commission seat.