Broadcast campaign ads and mailers are growing increasingly negative in the race for governor, with both sides accusing each other of lies and distortions.

The harshest in the past week have come from Gov. Robert Ehrlich?s campaign, using radio and TV spots to attack Baltimore Mayor Martin O?Malley?s record on crime. This weekend a new Ehrlich mailer charged that “the FBI is investigating Martin O?Malley?s leadership of the police department,” illustrated with a fingerprint card and crime scene tape.