Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich will officially announce his campaign for reelection today to news that he trails his challenger, Martin O’Malley (D), by 11 points in a new poll and the possible imminent collapse of a dam in Montgomery County caused by extreme rain fall in the Mid-Atlantic region over the past few days.

The weather emergency and inopportune Washington Post poll release come as Ehrlich already faces many challenges in winning reelection. He enjoys a 56 percent approval rating and scores well on questions of likeability and honesty, but the biggest hurtle facing Ehrlich, as the Post notes, is that a majority of Maryland voters are Democrats and he is a Republican.

Political buzz in Maryland is rising that Ehrlich will choose Kristen Cox to be his running mate. Cox, the state’s disabilities secretary, is a blind Mormon woman who has little political experience, but campaigned as an activist for the National Federation of the Blind before joining the Ehrlich administration. Some analysts see the possible pick as an effort by Ehrlich to cast himself as a “compassionate conservative.”

Over on the Democratic side, a former running mate is getting a new lease on life. Stuart Simms, former gubernatorial candidate Doug Duncan’s (D) running mate, will announce his candidacy for Attorney General tomorrow, Duncan’s campaign announced today. Duncan pulled out of the governor’s race last week, citing his clinical depression. While Duncan had consistently been the underdog against O’Malley, Simms is seen as a strong candidate for AG.