Maryland Republicans, meantime, say they hope to rebound in next year's election for governor, the General Assembly and House of Representatives.
State Sen. Andy Harris of Baltimore County, who defeated Gilchrest in last year's Republican primary, is seeking a rematch against Democratic Rep. Frank Kratovil Jr. of Stevensville, a narrow victor in the congressional district that takes in the entire Eastern Shore, plus some mostly Republican parts of Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Harford counties.
"I think the retirement of Wayne Gilchrest and the Arlen Specter [party switch] just serves to unify the message of the Republican Party, at least on the fiscal issues, and that's what the Republican Party needs to regain its majority status," Harris said.
Harris' comments are in line with those of some national Republicans and conservative activists, including the head of the Club for Growth, which backed Harris against Gilchrest. They contend that a key to strengthening the party is a return to the tightfisted fiscal policies that President George W. Bush and the Republican-led Congress abandoned in recent years.
Others, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who said last week that "our Republican brand is tainted," believe the party must relax its strict conservative ideology in order to broaden the party's appeal to moderate swing voters.
Eastern Shore Republican state Sen. E.J. Pipkin, who has been talked about as another potential challenger to Kratovil, said that fiscal restraint is only one part of the message that his party needs to convey.
"People are trying to hold on to their jobs, provide health care for their family, provide a great education for their family and take care of their retirement," said Pipkin, adding that Republicans also need to let voters know that they want to "keep government out of people's lives."
Still missing, at the state level, is a Republican who can focus the party's message and try to spark a comeback.
Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele has moved on to the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee. There, he has talked about the need to revive the party in the northeast, but Steele's effectiveness has been blunted by a continuing struggle to establish himself.
Ehrlich, who once sought to expand the party by emphasizing his own libertarian views, has kept relatively aloof from Republican politics. The former governor has chosen instead to beam his message at a conservative talk-radio audience on WBAL in Baltimore; he did not respond to an interview request left with an aide.
