WASHINGTON - While Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend fell short in her bid to become Maryland's first woman governor last night, woman gubernatorial candidates were battling to claim statehouses elsewhere throughout the country.

In a departure from past years when most women candidates for governor were long shots, women ran strong campaigns in all nine states where they ran, and were victorious in at least three races.

But many women's advocates, hoping for up to nine victories, were disappointed that 2002 didn't turn out to be the year of the woman governor.

As expected, Michigan's Democratic Attorney General Jennifer Granholm defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus in the race to succeed Gov. John Engler, who has been in office for 12 years. She will become the first woman to govern that state.

"This is a crucial presidential state," says Marie C. Wilson, president of the White House Project, a nonpartisan group that works to promote women in leadership positions. "Having a woman in that kind of place is truly wonderful."

In Kansas, Democratic state Insurance Commissioner Kathleen Sibelius won over Republican state Treasurer Tim Shallenburger, who came from the conservative wing of the party. Sibelius will be the first Democrat to win an open governor's seat in Kansas since 1936.

Hawaii was assured of getting its first female governor in the nation's second gubernatorial race in which both major party candidates were women. (The first was in Nebraska in 1986.) In Hawaii, Republican Maui Mayor Linda Lingle, the only Republican among this year's 10 female gubernatorial candidates, was leading Democratic Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono.

Currently, there are five female governors - the most to serve at any time. Three of the current women governors are either retiring or have sought another office.

Along with gains by women in Michigan, Kansas and Hawaii, female candidates were locked in close races in Arizona, Arkansas and Alaska, but only appeared to have an edge in Arizona, where Democratic Attorney General Janet Napolitano hoped to lure moderate Republicans to beat former congressman Matt Salmon.

"It's looking like we might end up with one additional governor," says Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, who had hoped for a better showing by the women candidates. "What you're seeing is an incredibly strong night for Republicans, and nine of the 10 women were Democrats."

In Massachusetts, popular Democratic state Treasurer Shannon O'Brien lost a close match with Republican Mitt Romney, a business executive who gained national recognition as head of the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.

In Rhode Island, Democratic businesswoman and former state Sen. Myrth York lost in her third attempt at the governorship, to first-time GOP candidate Don Carcieri.

In Arkansas, where polls stayed open later in at least one county because of ballot problems, Democratic state Treasurer Jimmie Lou Fisher was neck and neck with incumbent Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee. And in Alaska, Democratic Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer was locked in a tight race with the better-known and well-financed GOP Sen. Frank Murkowski.

Although women are no strangers to the halls of Congress - holding steady after substantial increases during the past quarter-century and the so-called "Year of the Woman" in 1992, when the number of women in Congress jumped from 28 to 42 - they've had a harder time making their way to governors mansions.

Only 12 women have been elected governors in their own right, reflecting, at least in part, an electorate that has been skeptical about women as tough, decisive, fiscally-attuned chief executives.

Twice before, in 1994 and in 1998, there have been 10 women gubernatorial candidates, as there were this year. But in both years, the women fared poorly. None of the mostly Democratic group won in 1994, the year of the "Republican revolution." Only two women won in 1998, both of them incumbents in a year when the economy rallied toward the end of the year in time for Election Day.

This year's roster of women candidates faced more favorable circumstances, said political observers, such as a large number of open seats (only in Arkansas was the race against an incumbent), souring state economies favoring candidates who offer change - and, perhaps most of all, the experience of the women candidates. "As a group, this is probably the strongest group of women we've seen running for governor," Walsh said.

Eight of the 10 women who ran had held statewide office as lieutenant governors, attorney generals, state treasurers or state insurance commissioner.

Said Wilson of the White House Project: "These women came from positions where they could demonstrate economic prowess and toughness, areas where voters still have small reservations about women."

For instance, Granholm's position as attorney general, combined with her tough-on-crime campaign and appeal on the campaign trail, helped her combat such biases and defeat not only Posthumus but two well-known Democrats in a highly competitive primary this year.

In Alaska, Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer sought to demonstrate her toughness in another way. She boasted of owning eight firearms and bought a new handgun to take on the campaign trail.