At Hillcrest Elementary School in Catonsville, Jeff Morsberger, former co-owner of a tavern in town, said he was looking for change in this election. “We’ve got to do something. Things have stayed the same too long.” He wouldn’t say which candidates got his votes, but he was looking for new blood “from the top to the bottom” of the ballot. He does not consider himself a Tea Party member, just someone looking for change.

Other voters echoed that theme.

Kevin Taylor, a vice principal at Towson High School, says he’s a Democrat but is not terribly enthusiastic about any of the party’s candidates. “I feel like all the candidates say the same thing, with very little difference.”

He noted that he’d been besieged with mailings, phone calls and other campaign appeals, but added: “I wasn’t super-excited about anybody, in particular….They say the same things, but don’t always get things accomplished. They don’t follow through on their promises.”

Robert Crowell, a salesman for Sylvania, is a Democrat, too, but he detects more enthusiasm among GOP candidates and supporters. He’s looking for more change, he says, because “we’re coming out of a lost decade.” And though he voted for Gov. Martin O’Malley, he said he wouldn’t be too upset if former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich won in November.

Even loyal O’Malley supporter Nicole Ames, the marketing director for a local law firm, said, “My mind is open.” Still, she expected to continue supporting the governor “unless something very odd happens.’’ She said she likes O'Malley because he’s “tough when he needs to be.”

-- Timothy B. Wheeler