Democrat Anthony Brown and Republican Larry Hogan criss-cross State in final election push for the Governor of Maryland's seat

Story by The Baltimore Sun
Written by Erin Cox and Yvonne Wenger

The two men locked in the unexpectedly close race for Governor spent the campaign's final weekend barnstorming the Baltimore-Washington region, trying to coax voters to show up on Election Day.

Democrat Anthony G. Brown and Republican Larry Hogan visited churches and shopping malls, rallied supporters and deployed high-profile surrogates to inspire Maryland's unengaged electorate. Each toured the State in an RV emblazoned with campaign logos.

"You know, this is starting to feel like a victory party," Hogan told several hundred people at a get-out-the-vote rally headlined by N.J. Gov. Chris Christie.

When he started his campaign as a Republican in this Democratic-dominated state, "some people laughed at me," Hogan said. "They're not laughing anymore."

Democrats, meanwhile, have built a multimillion dollar get-out-the vote effort to get their larger base to the polls. As Brown breezed through campaign stops in Prince George's County with an entourage that numbered over 50, he pulled aside a campaign worker who he said had personally knocked on thousands of doors.

"That's commitment and dedication," Brown told him. "That's how we're going to win this election, at the doors and on the phones. We know where the voters are. It's about getting them out and to the polls."

Brown holds a modest lead over Hogan in most polls, even though Democrats outnumber Republicans by 2 to 1 in Maryland. The Cook Political Report on Friday dubbed Maryland's governor's race "a toss up."

Political experts and both candidates see turning out supporters as key to victory on Tuesday.

"It's our turn, and it's our time," Christie told cheering Hogan supporters at a ballroom adjacent to a Baltimore bingo hall Sunday night. "We cannot waste a minute over the next 48 hours. … We cannot believe that just because we've inched past him that he can't come back and inch past us."

Hogan has ridden a wave of voter discontent over taxes in Maryland and closed the gap by gaining support of older voters, independents and some white conservative Democrats — voting blocs key to a statewide Republican win. Maryland has elected just one Republican governor — Robert L. Ehrlich — since the 1960s.

On the campaign trail, Hogan has not strayed from his economic message that the O'Malley-Brown administration has overtaxed Marylanders.

Brown, meanwhile, has been criticized by some as failing to spell out a clear vision for what he would offer Marylanders. While he has pitched expanded pre-Kindergarten programs, his television ads have focused on criticizing Hogan's past positions on social issues.

The closer-than-expected race has drawn a parade of national political figures to Maryland.

Christie, the chair of the Republican Governors Association, has visited the State four times on Hogan's behalf. The organization put $800,000 into ads for Hogan, and Christie said he'd consider Hogan's win as the biggest upset in the country.

First Lady Michelle Obama will headline a get-out-the-vote rally for Brown in Baltimore Monday night, the latest in a string of visits from Democratic superstars that include President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton.

The Democratic Governors Association has spent more than $1.25 million in Maryland for Brown, according to people familiar with the purchases.

Each campaign also spent about $2.7 million on television since the primary, federal filings show.

And both camps plan to continue an aggressive voter contact program until the polls close Tuesday night.

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