The loan was listed in the campaign finance report the Brown campaign filed late Friday night. It shows that Brown's campaign committee took out the loan from the Laborers Political League Education Fund on Oct. 6 at an interest rate of 4.25 percent.



"We took out the loan to give us some flexibility in spending in the final week of the campaign as we raise over $1 million in the next 10 days," Schall said. He explained that such expenses as TV, mail and payroll need to be paid in advance.



"This is a very common practice in campaigns because you can't spend money before you have it," he said.



Hogan's campaign saw the move in a different light.



"They are up against the ropes. The momentum continues to move in Larry's direction and they are clearly doing everything they can to eke out a victory," said Hogan spokesman Adam Dubitsky. "It's probably too little, too late for Anthony Brown."



Large loans to Maryland gubernatorial candidates are not unprecedented. In 2006, Martin O'Malley took out a $500,000 loan from Washington lawyer John P. Coale in the final weeks of his campaign against Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. The victorious O'Malley repaid the loan after the election.



The Hogan campaign is also carrying $500,000 in loans on its books, but those all came from Hogan himself during the primary campaign.



The watchdog group OpenSecrets.org lists the Laborers union as the 11th-largest donor to political spending groups.