Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich and Baltimore mayor Martin O’Malley squared off for the first time this campaign season in two debates Saturday, fighting over education, crime and a range of other topics that displayed the tense emotions between candidates who until Saturday were relegated to television advertisements and occasional interviews.

Both debates gave the opponents an opportunity to grill each other on their past records – a strategy both have used repeatedly in their campaigns. Ehrlich remained set on criticizing O’Malley’s record with violence and education in Baltimore, while O’Malley emphasized his theory that there are “two Bob Ehrlichs” in both debates, saying the governor displays different personalities when he is in an election year and when he is in office.

In the first debate, which will air tonight and was hosted by WJZ-13 in Baltimore, the station’s Denise Koch moderated the discussion between Ehrlich and O’Malley, who sat just feet away from each other.

The second debate, which aired live on Maryland Public Television later in the evening, stuck to the informal structure of the first and repeated many of the same arguments from both sides. Ehrlich appeared serious and entrenched in track records while O’Malley kept a smile on his face, sticking to the catch phrases and rhetoric he’s mastered in the campaign.

“Sometimes we zig, sometimes we zag, but we’re always moving forward,” O’Malley said of his relationship with the Baltimore City Council as he contrasted his leadership style to Ehrlich’s. Looking into the camera, O’Malley promised he would be a leader founded on “politics of hopes, politics of dreams… so our tomorrows can be better than our todays.”

“I don’t know what all that means, I gotta tell you,” Ehrlich said twice of O’Malley’s catchy phrases in the first debate, accusing him of not being a substantive leader, rather “whining and blaming others.”

Ehrlich defended himself, pointing out the amount of state dollars invested in Baltimore city.

“Without us, you are nothing,” Ehrlich told O’Malley.

The back and forth between the two was common in both debates, as the candidates took many opportunities to snipe at one another and attack each other’s records.

O’Malley applied his “two Ehrlich” theme to almost every topic, as he criticized the governor for understaffing prisons, not funding public education and misusing funds he said should have been dedicated to cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.

“He told you four years ago he wouldn’t raise taxes. He did. In the first 16 months he raised more than in 16 years,” O’Malley said of Ehrlich’s property tax increases.

Ehrlich countered by telling O’Malley to look into the camera and tell the viewers he wasn’t going to increase taxes. Ehrlich defended his actions and repeatedly cited major improvements he has made to the state, like the 123 projects he’s started, such as several roads around the state and green space.

In response to O’Malley’s criticism that he does not have a “vision” for the state’s future of transportation, Ehrlich countered by saying he is building all the bypasses that have been “put on the shelf in the past 20 years,” including the Intercounty Connector.

Surprisingly neglected from both debates, however, was the future of higher education, which O’Malley has named as one of his top-ten priorities. Not asked as one of the topic questions, O’Malley brought up higher education when criticizing Ehrlich for causing 40-percent tuition increases on some campuses.

In press releases after the debates, both sides declared themselves the winner.

Several Democrats, including Senator Barbara Mikulski, praised O’Malley for his clear vision of the future after the first debate. She said he was the clear winner and accused Ehrlich of taking credit for things in the debate that the legislature “passed over his dead body,” including fully funding Thornton, a funding program for public education.

Republicans, including the state house minority whip Anthony O’Donnell, stopped short of declaring Ehrlich a winner, but criticized O’Malley for speaking only in poetic prose with no substance, saying he “would not commit and would not answer specific questions.”

The debates were long awaited, as several attempts to hold them were canceled.

Contact reporter Owen Praskievicz at praskieviczdbk@gmail.com.