Mayoral candidate Mike McGinn announced today that he's opening a campaign office in Southeast Seattle, at 6951 Martin Luther King Jr Way, Suite 223.

The announcement comes two days after McGinn held a press conference at the Columbia City light rail station to announce plans to expand light rail within two years, and three days after his campaign made an embarrassing gaffe in a press release, referring to Martin Luther King Jr. Way as "Empire Way." (The name was changed in 1983.)  McGinn and his opponent Joe Mallahan, who live in Greenwood and Wallingford, respectfully, have been accused of being out of touch with Southeast Seattle, where Mayor Greg Nickels won overwhelmingly.

McGinn says the decision to open the MLK office had nothing to do with the criticisms or the press release flap. "We've been looking for space since before this weekend," McGinn says. "We've got the north end headquarters [at 40th and Aurora], and this will be the south end headquarters. ... We want to be able to effectively do outreach to people in Southeast Seattle and be open and accessible to them."

Mallahan has one campaign office in the Eastlake neighborhood.