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If the municipal elections this week in Frederick, Rockville, Gaithersburg and Takoma Park are any indication, hard-edged personalities and party-line politics aren't sitting well with Maryland voters.

In Frederick, voters rejected three incumbent members of the Board of Aldermen. One of them, Donna Kuzemchak, is an outspoken Democrat and has been the most vocal critic of the city's mayor. The others, Alan Imhoff and C. Paul Smith, both Republicans, were strong supporters of the mayor, and backed him in voting for a questionable early retirement plan that will likely end up costing the city money. In the Frederick mayoral race, the incumbent mayor did not run. There, a local bagel shop owner who has been deeply involved in city matters for years, Randy McClement, defeated a longtime union executive well-versed in political endeavors in Jason Judd.

In Rockville, Mayor Susan Hoffmann, viewed by many as having a brash, overly-confident attitude, was ousted by Phyllis Marcuccio, a two-term council member who ran on a platform emphasizing civility. Roald Schrack, a longtime Rockville political observer, said there seems to be a trend toward voting for candidates who promise to protect individual interests over the interests of the community at large. The nationwide feeling of financial instability is a major driver of that sentiment, he said. "I don't think it's so much an anti-incumbent thing, frankly. It's more of an indication of insecurity."

In Takoma Park, Bruce Williams, the soft-spoken mayor and manager of Takoma Park's often verbose city council, won a sound victory over challenger Roger Schlegel, a relative unknown who ran behind the slogan, "We can do better," and expressed plans to shift the way the city handles its finances.

While voters returned all incumbents running in Gaithersburg to their positions, the strongest opposition came in the mayoral race, where Richard Koch lost a spirited battle with longtime Mayor Sidney A. Katz.

In taking a closer look at the races, it seems that voters are less inclined to stick to party lines and are trending toward candidates they view as "safe." Consider the personalities of the mayors-elect in Rockville, Gaithersburg, Frederick and Takoma Park. The punchline, or tagline, depending on your perspective, for McClement is that he's a "nice guy." Katz, who's been a fixture in Gaithersburg politics for decades, was criticized by his opponent for being too conciliatory and not aggressive enough. In Rockville, Marcuccio's serene demeanor casts a strikingly different image than that of Hoffmann, who is filled with unwavering confidence that some perceive as dismissive. In Takoma Park, Williams has consistently pointed out that the role of the mayor should be one of a facilitator of conversation rather than a driver of agendas.

Maryland's municipal races of 2009 could very well be dubbed the "Comfort Food Elections." Now, it's a matter of whether comfort food will prove to be substantive enough for governance in lean times.