Robert Brannum, the Ward 5 education activist and serial-hearing-testifier, has dropped his challenge to two-term incumbent Shadow Sen. Paul Strauss. Brannum made his announcement at the Ward 5 Democrats meeting Monday night in North Michigan Park.

“I did not have the time to put into an effective citywide campaign,” Brannum told LL, citing a need to stay “close to home in Ward 5.” Collecting the hefty 2,000-signature requirement for nominating petitions, he says, was not an issue.

That leaves Ward 8 activist Phil Pannell as the lone remaining challenger to Strauss for the Democratic shadown senator nomination. Brannum says he’s throwing his support, such as it is, to Pannell, citing a need for “someone who is able to bring a new dynamic to the cause.”

Brannum’s electoral ambitions have not been completely foiled: He told LL he’s planning a run for the State Board of Education, against incumbent Lisa Raymond for the nonpartisan seat representing Wards 5 and 6.

UPDATE, 2:44 P.M.: Brannum won’t be challenging Raymond, actually—the makeup of the board changes next year, with one member elected from each ward plus an at-large member, rather than the current hybrid of mayoral appointees and elected members from two-ward districts. Raymond, who lives in Ward 6, is planning to run for that ward’s spot, LL assumes.

Today is the first day candidates can pick up petitions for the Sept. 9 primary, and the big news is this: Ward 8 resident and longtime statehood activist Eugene Dewitt Kinlow plans to challenge incumbent Paul Strauss for his shadow senator slot.

LL was at the Board of Elections and Ethics’ door bright and early this morning, and the scuttlebutt was soon flying that Kinlow would be filing. LL didn’t see him before leaving around noontime but was able to reach Kinlow at his office at D.C. Vote this afternoon; he says he plans to pick up his ballot petitions before the end of the day.

Kinlow isn’t the only one challenging Strauss; Ward 5 rabble-rouser Robert Vinson Brannum was in shortly after 9 a.m. to pick up his petitions for the Democratic primary. Longtime activist Nelson Rimensnyder also showed to file for the Republican primary.

Kinlow brings a lot more cred to his campaign against the 12-year incumbent than the others; he’s outreach director for the District’s most prominent voting-rights organization, is a member of one of D.C.’s most prominent political families, and has close ties to the local Democratic organization.

“I think that first of all, I’ve got a lot of interest in all things Washington D.C.; I’ve been interested in voting rights and statehood all my life,” Kinlow says explaining his decision to run.

Kinlow says he and Strauss are good friends—a relationship that goes back to their college years—but he says it’s time for a change in the shadow ranks. “He’s had 12 years to do what he can do,” Kinlow says. “I think I can do more. I think can do a better job.”

Cinch that tie up, next time, Senator.

(BTW, I’m getting really good at spelling “Hayden Panettiere.”)

The Shadow Delegation somehow roped Heroes‘ Hayden Panettiere into recording a PSA reminding you, District taxpayers, to donate to the D.C. Statehood Delegation Fund, which is used to support the doings of Shadow Sens. Paul Strauss and Michael D. Brown and Shadow Rep. Mike “Close Enough to Panettiere” Panetta.

The footage was shot back in January, Strauss says, when Panettiere was in town to lobby Congress on whaling issues. Strauss met her at the Barack Obama rally on Jan. 28.

“She was lobbying the Senate on whale issues as part of her Save the Whales campaign….I assured her that she would get my vote, but, hey, I don’t get one.” Over lunch in the Senate dining room, Strauss says, he explained “what I could do for whales and how much more I could do if I got a vote….She saw the injustice and agreed to help us out.”

Lucky for Strauss, a camera crew documenting Panettiere’s whale work was following her around and they agreed to shoot a quick PSA after their lunch.

But why wait until less than a week before tax day to drum up support for a tax-form check-off?

Strauss says getting a hold of the tape was a bit tricky: “The guy who had the footage was out on a boat chasing whales in the Dominican Republic….He was tough to track down.”