It appears that Democratic Rep. Dennis Moore likes his position in Washington, D.C.

After he won a sixth term in November, speculation swirled on national political blogs that Moore might retire at the end of his term.

But in a Dec. 23 letter mailed to supporters, he announced: “I want you to be the first to know that I am officially running for my seventh congressional term in 2010.”

Moore represents the 3rd District of Kansas, which includes most of eastern Lawrence, eastern Douglas County, plus Johnson and Wyandotte counties. The former Johnson County district attorney is currently the only Democrat in the Kansas congressional delegation.

His intention to run for Congress also seems to take Moore off a list of potential gubernatorial candidates for Democrats in 2010, when Gov. Kathleen Sebelius ends her second term in office.

Pundits consider the nomination to be wide open after Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson announced last week that he would not run for the office.

But state Rep. Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, said Moore sent out his letter to supporters before Parkinson announced he was not running. Davis, the incoming House minority leader, said Moore, State Treasurer Dennis McKinney and Kansas City, Kan., Mayor Joe Reardon are among Democrats who could run a competitive gubernatorial campaign.

“I think we may see some others who maybe are not in real public positions right now but have the ability to run statewide,” Davis said.

On the Republican side, Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh and U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback have announced their intentions to run for governor.