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The shadow of former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. lurks in nearly every speech Gov. Martin O'Malley makes.

Whether it's comparing how much school construction aid the state has doled out or the projected energy shortfall that the state faces, O'Malley's recurring references to his Republican predecessor have been by design.

Tax hikes passed last year were necessary because Ehrlich and previous administrations neglected the structural budget, O'Malley has said. Electricity bills are higher because Ehrlich's Public Service Commission was too cozy with utility executives, he has oft repeated. And Ehrlich didn't do enough to address the failing Chesapeake Bay, he maintains.

In the past few weeks, O'Malley has zigzagged across the state touring schools and touting the increase in school construction dollars each county has received compared with Ehrlich's first two years — 316 percent more for Frederick County, 312 percent more for Baltimore city, 269 percent more for Anne Arundel County and 240 percent more for Montgomery County, to name a few.

"We've invested more in new schools in my first two years than my predecessor did his entire term," O'Malley said during a recent visit to College Gardens Elementary School in Rockville.

But as he approaches the halfway point of the four-year term, O'Malley should spend more time highlighting his own achievements and focusing less on the past, some State House watchers say.

"I think you can compare [yourself to] what other people did, but I think you should talk about what you've done and what you've accomplished," former Gov. Marvin Mandel (D) said. "That's what people want to hear."

Aides to O'Malley said the knocks against Ehrlich are designed to draw a contrast between the two men and to provide a context for some of the current administration's initiatives.

"Because of the scope of the challenges that we faced with regard to energy policy, with regard to the structural deficit that we inherited, with regard to the environment, smart growth, land use and restoring the Chesapeake Bay, there was a need for the administration to communicate where we were starting from and the choices that have been made in the past as we worked to move our state in the right direction," communications director Rick Abbruzzese said.

It's also a political tactic in case Ehrlich tries to reclaim Government House in 2010.

The former governor's political future remains a mystery, but he has remained visible through public appearances and his weekly radio show that has become an anti-O'Malley forum.

And that changes the calculus for O'Malley.

"It's almost like he's already in a campaign because of what Ehrlich is doing," former Gov. Harry R. Hughes (D) said. "If Ehrlich was out there quiet and not doing anything, I'm sure it would be a little different."

Feuds between Maryland chief executives are not unheard of, most notably the well-documented enmity between former Gov. William Donald Schaefer (D) and his successor, former Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D). After Schaefer became comptroller, he often used Board of Public Works meetings to browbeat Glendening, who often remained stoic.

Hughes said his only grievance with Schaefer, who succeeded him, was his redecoration of the first floor of Government House that Hughes' wife had played a big role in with the help of the Maryland Historical Trust.

"We weren't the best of friends [but] I don't recall that he beat on me," Hughes said.

Ehrlich's communications director said the former governor refused to rap his predecessor, Glendening.

"It is not Governor Ehrlich's style and it's bad taste to do so," said Paul Schurick, who now works at the former governor's Baltimore law firm. "On any number of occasions, he had an opportunity to do it and made sure that people knew he would not do it."

Even so, Ehrlich often talked about changing the "culture of corruption" of his Annapolis predecessors.

The frequent swipes at Ehrlich are beneath the office that O'Malley holds, Schurick said. "This obviously is a central and deliberate strategy and it reminds me of the Little League player who always strikes out and blames the bat. At some point, he has to acknowledge that there's a little bit more to it than that."

But O'Malley's supporters maintain that all's fair in politics, given that Ehrlich could be his opponent in 2010.

"I'm sure I might have reacted differently myself during my first term if I knew who was out there taking shots at me and was planning to run against me," Hughes said. "That puts a different light on it."

Still, some observers are surprised that O'Malley hasn't done more to trumpet his accomplishments.

"I think that the governor ought to just let it go and move on and stop worrying about what happened more than two years ago," said an Annapolis insider who asked for anonymity because he is still a state employee. "You can only blame the previous administration for so long and I think that time is gone."

Mandel thinks O'Malley's strategy could backfire because it keeps Ehrlich's name in the news.

"When you publicize someone else, you're not helping yourself," he said.

The current presidential race is a good example, he explained. "Every time [Democrats] hit [Sarah Palin] because she's a female, they're helping her, not hurting her," Mandel said. "They're causing more and more females to come to her [side]."

Staff Writer C. Benjamin Ford contributed to this report.