Demands to remove Rep. Charlie Rangel (D) as Ways and Means chairman have died down, but that hasn’t kept several candidates from filing the paperwork to take him on in 2010.

No doubt emboldened by the negative headlines that have dogged the 20-term Harlem Congressman, three candidates have now filed to challenge him in either the primary or general election.

The most recent addition is state Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV (D), son of civil rights leader and former Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr., whose paperwork for a new campaign account was published on the Federal Election Commission Web site Tuesday.

Powell, who has been testing the waters for a run since October, lost a 1994 primary challenge to Rangel. He brings his own baggage to the race, including a drunken-driving arrest in 2008.

Others who have opened campaign accounts are Democrat Vincent Morgan, a community banker and former Rangel campaign director, and the Rev. Michael Faulkner (R) of the New Horizon Church of New York in Harlem.

Rangel remains the heavy favorite in the safe Democratic district.