Alan Rzepkowski, the county's Republican Central Committee chairman, said whether anyone decides to challenge the appointees will probably depend on the new judges and "whether they are conservative in nature. ... If not, there probably would be a challenge from the Republican Party."
The governor's sole appointee so far to the county's Circuit Court, J. Michael Wachs, was not challenged. He has deep roots in the county and is well-perceived.
Describing the county as " leaning conservative," Dan Nataf, director of the Center for the Study of Local Issues at Anne Arundel Community College, pointed to two considerations.
FOR THE RECORD - An article in last Sunday's Anne Arundel edition gave an incorrect title for Shaun Adamec. He is a spokesman for Gov. Martin O'Malley.
The Baltimore Sun regrets the error.
"They are going to have to find someone who is not tangential to Anne Arundel County, but is part of the scene here," he said.
Also, he said, "Anne Arundel County is a law-and-order conservative place."
Besides, he said, appointees in clubby legal circles make a challenge tougher: It is hard to run against friends.
Governors make most appointments from within their political party, though some have made choices from outside it.
Whether the prospect of an election contest would dampen the enthusiasm for appointments remains to be seen; closing a private practice for an appointment only to be booted out of office a short time later is not appealing.
"The Circuit Court may not be an attractive place because of the success people had in running for office," said lawyer John H. Robinson III, later adding, "If the appointee is perceived as bad, then people definitely will run."
Applicant lists for Circuit Court appointments typically include many prosecutors, he said.
They also often have lower-court judges, court masters and other public employees in addition to lawyers in private practice.
Nataf said the political atmosphere of the county has changed since the 2004 election, when anti-Democratic ill will in the county was strong.
Last year, President Barack Obama lost the county by only a few percentage points to a Naval Academy graduate. The county's voter registration slightly favors Democrats, but many of them, as well as unaffiliated voters, lean conservative.
