How Maryland Democrats Took Back the State House

Four years ago, when Republican Bob Ehrlich won Maryland's gubernatorial race, the very blue state was shocked. Up until that point, Maryland was a reliably Democratic stronghold - a Republican had not won the state house in 36 years. Republicans believed the election of Ehrlich was the beginning of a realignment in the state, but Democrats called it a fluke and blamed their loss on a weak candidate, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

Both theories were put to the test this election day. By the end of the night, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley had soundly defeated Ehrlich. So how did O'Malley do it?

Going into the race, Governor Ehrlich had several significant advantages over his Democratic challenger. First, Ehrlich was an incumbent and no Maryland governor has lost re-election since 1954. Ehrlich also wielded the power of that incumbency with great efficiency. The Governor took every opportunity to consolidate and expand his base on talk radio, and some complained that official state documents had the air of campaign flyers for his next term in office.

Ehrlich's second advantage was his popular public image. Ehrlich was largely able to sell himself as a moderate Republican that Democrats could live with. And while his governing practices often revealed a fierce right-wing partisan, the state legislature kept his worst instincts in check. Voters were often unaware that the Governor had opposed some of the very same measures that he would later run on as part of his record during the campaign.

The third advantage Ehrlich had was his war chest. Going into the final leg of the race, Ehrlich still had $2 million in the bank even after having to return $500,000 due to a violation of campaign finance laws. O'Malley struggled with only $600,000.