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Tuesday’s “change” election, the second in as many years, could add fresh momentum to a heavyweight rematch in Maryland between Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley and his Republican predecessor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., in 2010.
Ehrlich had to be encouraged by the defeat of an incumbent Democratic governor in New Jersey and the election of Virginia’s first Republican governor in more than a decade. In an Election Day interview, Ehrlich said that such off-year contests are often “predictors” of future elections. He singled out the New Jersey race and pointed to similarities between that Democratic state and Maryland, both of which swung heavily behind Barack Obama in 2008.