THE BIGGEST LOSER in Tuesday's election was the status quo.
Maryland voters flung powerful incumbents aside: a Senate committee chairman and the House speaker, for example. Baltimore voters ordered a complete restructuring of the City Council. Marylanders in general said "No, thank you" to a member of the famous Kennedy family.
The time for change had come.
In a Democratic state congealed around aging, long-term office holders, the top-to-bottom changes wrought on Tuesday could have real significance, if only as a shake-up.
Some of those who lost -- in both parties -- had been in office too long and may have grown complacent. Clearly, the voters thought so.
By a convincing margin, Marylanders elected the state's first GOP governor in 36 years. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. goes to Annapolis determined to re-establish the two-party system -- and saying he'll set a new tone of character and integrity.
Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the Democratic candidate, was not responsible for what a federal judge referred to as a "culture of corruption" in Annapolis. But she paid a price for those who were responsible: a senator expelled for misconduct, two lobbyists jailed, a governor who behaved as if his position was nothing more than a license for unabashed personal gain. Mr. Ehrlich's reputation for honest public service offers hope for change, though he must make clear he will tolerate no ethical missteps from friend or foe. And he must articulate more fully what he plans to do to combat the culture he ran against.
Mr. Ehrlich's running mate, Michael S. Steele, achieved historic change as soon as their victory was official: He became the first African-American elected to a statewide office, lieutenant governor. He now represents a powerful symbol of change in Maryland, in the Maryland Republican Party and in Maryland's political culture. He will need to parlay that symbolism into meaning over the next four years.
The push for a new day also brought early retirement for some talented legislators.
State Sen. Robert R. Neall of Anne Arundel County lost his seat after changing party affiliations. Formerly a Republican, he ran as a Democrat this time -- and lost to hard-working Del. Janet Greenip. Mr. Neall's departure leaves the Senate without two of its best budget-makers. Baltimore's Barbara A. Hoffman lost in the Democratic primary. Change in these two cases costs the Senate experienced legislators who have shaped tax and spending policies for a generation.
House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. of Cumberland, a thinker of vision and creativity, apparently lost also. He trails by 139 votes with 500 absentee ballots to be counted. The popularity of Mr. Ehrlich in Western Maryland may have helped to end Mr. Taylor's career.
In Baltimore County, Del. Martha S. Klima, a Republican, lost her bid for a seat in the state Senate to James Brochin, a political consultant and teacher who ran a meticulously organized campaign that may have achieved records for lawn signs and door-knocking.
Having served under many Democratic governors, Ms. Klima leaves just as Mr. Ehrlich brings their party out of the political wilderness.
The Election 2002 drive for change made no concessions to sentimentality.