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In the aftermath of this week's elections, former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich was among those trying to assess what politically independent voters might mean for future elections.

Officially, Ehrlich (R) said he and his advisers have only begun to analyze data from Tuesday's races in an effort to determine if he would have a chance in a rematch with Gov. Martin O'Malley. In 2006, O'Malley (D) defeated incumbent Ehrlich.

The good news coming out of the elections, Ehrlich said in an interview Wednesday, is that the results reflect a general dissatisfaction with the Democratic agenda in Washington.

That might enable Republicans to win over moderate Democrats and independent voters, whom he referred to as "ticket-splitters," he said.

"This is a rejection one year in of an agenda that is pretty hard left, and that's not where the American people are," Ehrlich said.

O'Malley said Republican wins in gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey were disappointing, but meant little to his 2010 race.

"I think every race is different. Maryland's not New Jersey or Virginia," O'Malley said.

Political independents — or unaffiliated voters as they are often referred to in Maryland — broke big for the Democrats in the national elections in 2008, but on Tuesday seemed to go more for individual candidates than a political party, said Del. Richard B. Weldon Jr. (Dist. 3B) of Brunswick, who switched from the Republican Party to unaffiliated on Sept. 30, 2008, because of what he called the "broken culture" among Republicans in Annapolis.

Future candidates will have to continue to change how they campaign to reach the growing number of voters who don't identify themselves with either political party, Weldon said.

"The difference is already palpable," he said. "People truly feel neither of the two parties represent what they want."

Speaking after Wednesday's Board of Public Works meeting, O'Malley said Tuesday's races were about the economy.

"People are apprehensive, they're anxious and they want this recession to be over with, and they want their government to work even more quickly to get us out of this economic pain," O'Malley said.

"We can all understand that, I think, given the unemployment and the way small businesses are hurting and struggling just to survive."

The best way for Democrats to hold onto independent voters next year is to work hard to bring recovery to Maryland as soon as possible.

"And I think that by next year, it's my hope that people will not be in such pain as we are right now," O'Malley said.

Ehrlich cautioned that the GOP should not view Tuesday's results as an endorsement of its platform.

"Therein lies opportunity for Republicans, but that's all it is, opportunity," Ehrlich said.

Although he continues to weigh a decision on whether to run for governor next year, a new poll may buoy Ehrlich's prospects.

O'Malley defeated Ehrlich, 47 percent to 40 percent, in the survey of 637 Maryland voters conducted by Clarus Research Group between Oct. 30 and Nov. 2. However, the poll shows that O'Malley may be vulnerable among independents. He lost the independent vote to Ehrlich by 14 percentage points.

Ron Faucheux, the firm's president, said the survey results should send a message that O'Malley can't discount the importance of independent voters in a race against Ehrlich.

Between 2006 and 2008, registration of third-party and unaffiliated voters in Maryland grew by about 62,400 (12.4 percent) to 563,000.

That is a faster rate of growth than among Democrats, where registration increased by more than 200,000 (11.9 percent) to 1.937 million and Republicans, where the ranks grew by about 18,000 voters (1.9 percent) to 926,000 voters.

And House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Dist. 29C) of Lusby believes the results in New Jersey and Virginia could be a "strong harbinger" of what will happen in Maryland next year, although he acknowledged that one year in politics is an eternity.

From a practical standpoint, future efforts to reach independent voters will make campaigns more expensive, Weldon said. Candidates won't be able to rely on traditional, get-out-the-vote efforts among the party faithful to win races, he said.

"[Unaffiliated voters] are harder to market to because you can't assume the growing ranks of nonaffiliated voters are in the middle of the road, conservative or liberal," Weldon said. "There's many in the tea party movement who are strongly conservative but don't affiliate with the Republican Party because they blame the party for the growth of the deficit and the federal government."

Randy McClement, a Republican, won the mayoral race this week in Frederick, even as he ran away from attack ads by his party's Central Committee, Weldon said.

He distanced himself from his party by going after independent voters and running an attack-free campaign, Weldon added.

McClement emphasized that he would work with the Democrats who make up four of the five members on the city's Board of Alderman.

"It's going to be a team of me and them, and not me against them," McClement said, adding that the new board brings all the strengths needed for a successful administration, even though they are all fresh to city politics.

The Republican Party in Maryland likely will begin to tilt even more to the right instead of the center, Weldon said.

"In this state, the Republicans who run are going to run even further right so as not to be rejected by their base," he said.

Staff writer Sean Sedam and Capital News Service reporter Karen Anderson contributed to this report.