Unlikely Voter

Even though the West Virginia Senate race showed that sometimes a national trend can overcome local candidates, the candidates still matter.

The race for Governor in Maryland has turned out to be one of those. For some time the race was close, but while my back was turned it seems that Democrat Martin O’Malley is simply running away from Republican Robert Ehrlich.

In sports there’s an old saying that I like to quote: “It’s not a rivalry until both sides win.” I’m thinking it’d be wise to extend that to political polling, and say that a race isn’t truly close until both sides have led.

In that case, the Maryland Governor’s race is truly close now.

The last time we looked in on Maryland, former governor and Republican Bob Ehrlich had taken his 7 point loss to incumbent Democrat Martin O’Malley, and narrowed the deficit to 6 and then to 3 in the polls.

Now it’s all tied up.

There is more to life than the US Senate. In many states, control of the Governor’s office will have a critical role in the process of redistricting after the 2010 Census and reapportionment of US House seats.

So today we look at the Maryland Governor’s race as polled by Rasmussen.