Ehrlich's gamble in Montgomery
To win back his old job, the former Republican governor of Maryland has set his sights on an unlikely target: the Democratic bastion of Montgomery County.</br></br>Despite lackluster performances there in his previous two bids, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is betting that anxiety about the faltering economic recovery and discontent with the status quo will penetrate even a left-leaning jurisdiction that is home to more federal workers than any other in the state.</br></br>Ehrlich, who plans to campaign again in Montgomery on Tuesday, has mapped a strategy that in part seeks to win votes in the western and northern parts of the county, which are more conservative than the communities that hug the Capital Beltway. He hopes a message of lower taxes and a friendlier business climate will sell in a county that has an increasingly diversified private sector.</br></br>"This is the type of election cycle where Democrats are more willing to cross party lines," Ehrlich said as he took a break recently from greeting seniors arriving at the county fair in Gaithersburg. "We think the low 40s is doable here."</br></br>That might not sound terribly ambitious, but in Maryland's largest county even a modest uptick in Ehrlich's support could add thousands of votes to his statewide total in what is shaping up as a competitive rematch against Gov. Martin O'Malley (D).