Larry Hogan bows out of race for governor

The leading Republican with clear plans to challenge Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley this fall has dropped out of the race.

Hogan said in a brief interview this afternoon that his conviction that Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is going to run led him to end his own exploratory bid. Ehrlich, for whom Hogan served as appointments secretary, has said recently that he'll make public his intentions in March, but probably not sooner.

"I have become convinced he's going to run," Hogan said. When I asked what led him to this conclusion, he replied, "I just believe it."

What happens if Ehrlich says in March that he's not going to run after all?

"I'll jump off that bridge when I come to it," Hogan replied, perhaps a bit too fatalistically.

Hogan revealed his decision in a long note posted today on his blog:

"Today I am officially concluding my exploratory committee and calling on my friend Bob Ehrlich to enter this race for governor. Not only do I believe that Bob Ehrlich should run, but I am convinced he will run and that we should all push in the same direction to elect him as Maryland's next governor."

Hogan had put up more than $300,000 of his own money to run his campaign, but he'd said all along that he had no interest in running if his former boss did. has said recently that he continues to mull whether to run in this heavily Democratic state. After one term in office, he lost his reelection bid to O'Malley in 2006.