O'Malley shuns Homeland Security speculation

Could Gov. Martin O'Malley be in the running to become the next secretary of Homeland Security? Not interested, says his press secretary.

The National Journal named O'Malley Friday as a "dark-horse candidate" to replace Janet Napolitano, who announced earlier in the day she was leaving the Obama cabinet to become the first woman president of the University of California system.

The Journal, which recently published a profile of Maryland's two-term governor asking if it was time to take his presidential ambitions seriously, noted that he had been tapped by President Obama earlier this year to be chairman of a national homeland security panel.

But Takirra Winfield, O'Malley's press secretary, said he hasn't been asked and doesn't want to be. The governor remains "focused on Maryland," she said in an email, "and there's still more work to do in the state."  She said O'Malley had worked well with Napolitano and "wishes her the best in her future endeavors."