O'Malley and Ehrlich Visit Labor Day Parade in Gaithersburg

GAITHERSBURG, Md. - Labor Day is the unofficial kickoff to campaign season and this year is no exception in Maryland.

It's a rematch between incumbent Martin O’Malley and Robert Ehrlich for governor. But this time around, they're trading shots and rubbing elbows.

Governor O'Malley is trying to avoid the fate of Ehrlich and win re-election to a second term. Meanwhile Ehrlich, trying to get his governor’s job back, has launched his first television ad, promising to find solutions to problems he says the current administration has left undone.

Both men were at the annual Labor Day Parade in Gaithersburg Monday and it appears the issue of jobs and labor may prove important in this gubernatorial rematch.

The last Rasmussen poll finds both men virtually tied around 45 percent for the third month in a row. What will be the difference maker? Both men say it will be their track record as governor.

"He's not some new challenger who rolled out of bed and decided that golly, now he really wants to get to work. What did he do when he was in office?’ said O'Malley.

"To have this Democratic of a county and this many undecided so late shows us that a lot of people are unhappy with Annapolis today. That’s what it shows," said Ehrlich.

Ehrlich’s campaign launched its first television ad on Labor Day and the current governor quickly called it "misleading."

"I think it totally papers over and tries to gloss over the things that he did when he was in office," O’Malley said.

Ehrlich's reaction to O’Malley's comment?

"This is from the people who blame me for the Louisiana oil spill,’ Ehrlich said.

From a political science standpoint, there is nothing really scientific about asking people along a parade route who they're going to vote for. But, the large majority of the people FOX 5 spoke to at the parade say the one decision they have made is that they are undecided.

Rasmussen reports in their last poll two weeks ago found that 8 percent of Maryland voters are undecided. That is critical in a race that is a virtual dead heat right now.

78 percent of O’Malley’s voters say they are already certain how they will vote in November while 72 percent of Ehrlich’s voters say the same. With their overall share of the polls around 45 percent, if they are going to find that 6 percent to put them over the top, both men are going to have to go after that 8 percent of voters who still haven’t made up their mind.