Holy crap! Is Maryland in play?

The Baltimore Sun seems to think so:

A respected group of political analysts on Friday declared Maryland's race for governor a "toss up."
The Cook Political Report said the contest between Democrat Anthony G. Brown and Republican Larry Hogan was too close to predict who would win, although they gave Brown a "slight advantage" in deep blue Maryland.
Those national analysts now twice revised the Democrats' hold on the governor's mansion, moving the race first from the "solid Democratic" category to "leaning Democratic," and now to "a toss up."
"Neither side thought they would be spending seven figures here, particularly this late in the race," the report said. "Democrats believe that they caught Hogan's surge, and have had enough time to define their own candidate. We tend to agree and believe that Brown enjoys a slight advantage, but polling and the barrage of television ads from both sides suggest that this belongs in Toss Up."

Hogan has been campaigning on financial issues, mostly involving jobs creation and rolling back some of Gov. Martin O'Malley's countless tax hikes. Brown, bless his heart, has been running as the guy who would continue O'Malley's record. Given the sharp downturn in O'Malley's approval ratings, it would appear that maybe that wasn't the best of strategies. Maryland is so heavily Democrat that it probably won't matter, but we can dream.