Re Election

Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus was elected chair of the Republican National Committee on Friday, defeating four other candidates — including incumbent Michael S. Steele — in seven rounds of voting. Priebus never trailed in the voting, slowly building on his tally until he surpassed a majority of the 168 voting members. Steele, the gaffe-prone former lieutenant governor of Maryland who was elected as chairman in January 2009, dropped out of contention after the fourth round of balloting.

Divided House Democrats re-elected their leaders to minority party positions in the next Congress, choosing Reps. Nancy Pelosi as leader and Steny H. Hoyer as whip. Perhaps appropriately, given Maryland's status as an island of Democratic blue in a widening sea of Republican red, the state can lay claim to fully half of the top six members of the incoming leadership team. Pelosi was born in Baltimore, and Hoyer represents the southern part of the state. A sixth member, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, represents Maryland's Washington suburbs.

Maryland faces economic uncertainty, Gov. Martin O'Malley said Wednesday, but the state's innovations in green technology, health and cybersecurity leave it well-positioned to remain ahead of its peers. "Very few other states in the country have the edges we have now in innovation," O'Malley told more than 100 students and faculty members at Towson University in his first major address since winning re-election last week. "It's the thing that will allow us to be leaders. " Earlier in the day, analysts projected a $1.6 billion hole in the state budget, up from the $1.2 billion anticipated earlier in the fall.

Sandra French is quick to point out that some local Howard County organizations did not support her re-election to the Board of Education and added that the tone of this year's campaign was often contentious. Still, it was apparent during September's primary that many voters in the county approve of the job she has done, as she finished with the most votes among 11 candidates. That support was solidified on Election Night when she won re-election, continuing her run as one of the longest-serving board members in the county's history.

Howard County voters ignored the national mood and re-elected incumbents from both major political parties Tuesday, leaving Democrats still firmly in control of the county's local government and Annapolis delegation. Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. lost in Howard County by 9,000 votes, after losing by about 700 votes here in 2006. He was unable to boost even one Republican to victory in legislative District 12A, which covers parts of Elkridge and Ellicott City, but is mostly in Ehrlich's political backyard of Arbutus and southwestern Baltimore County.

A potent Republican punch knocked Democrats from power in the House but largely spared Maryland incumbents in Tuesday's midterm voting. As part of that national trend, Maryland's most closely watched House contest saw Republican state Sen. Andy Harris defeat incumbent Democratic Rep. Frank Kratovil in the 1st District. Nearly complete returns showed Harris doing considerably better on the Eastern Shore than in 2008, when he lost in the historically Republican district by less than 3,000 votes.

Gov. Martin O'Malley will begin to chart a course for his second term Thursday, when he meets with his Cabinet for the first time since this week's decisive election victory. While O'Malley, a Democrat, has outlined broad themes of how he'll approach the next four years, it remains to be seen whether he plans major staffing changes or new strategic directions. A re-election is a chance to "fine-tune, streamline and, in effect, reinvent" an administration, said Robert Douglas, communications director for Gov. William Donald Schaefer, a Democrat who served two terms ending in 1995.

Gov. Martin O'Malley has won a second term in Annapolis, handing Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. a second consecutive statewide defeat. "We're going to have a lot of tough days still ahead of us," O'Malley, 47, told cheering supporters at a Baltimore museum. "But we are coming back. " He added: "Tonight we chose a better future for the children of Maryland. " A few minutes later, around 11 p.m., Ehrlich congratulated O'Malley at a gathering of his supporters at the state fairgrounds in Timonium, prompting a brief chorus of boos.

When she arrived for her senior aerobics class at the Randallstown Community Center the other morning, Mrs. Willie Tombs was surprised to bump into Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski. Tombs got a kiss and hug from the Democratic veteran, along with a gentle reminder that "we're doing early voting now. Can we count on you to turn out?" The answer was yes. After the senator moved on, the Pikesville resident said she's been personally familiar with Mikulski "for years. I knew her when she was a social worker" in East Baltimore in the 1960s.

We don't need to wait for the absentee ballots to be counted before officially declaring incumbent state Sen. Ulysses Currie the winner in the Democratic primary for the 25th District. For that matter, no need to wait for November's general election before declaring him the victor in that contest, too. Mr. Currie is facing a federal indictment on bribery charges in which prosecutors say he took $250,000 over five years from a grocery chain, Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, to use the powers of his office to gain favorable consideration for the company, all without disclosing the arrangement to anyone.