By: Robert J. Terry

The week was dominated by politics and election news, as seen with The Daily Record’s five most-read staff-written stories.

Even a story on health care that cracked the list centers on health care reform — a galvanizing factor, pundits say, in many of the Republican victories across the country that resulted in the GOP taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

A story on air travel, however, tops the list. Here are summaries and links.

After buying AirTran, Southwest is eyeing Atlanta
A Southwest Airlines executive’s recent pronouncement that Atlanta could become the discount carrier’s biggest hub after its proposed acquisition of AirTran Airways does not worry BWI officials.

After election, experts predict market’s drift
Two of the biggest questions on Wall Street are now settled: how power is divided in Washington and how big the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying stimulus program will be. So what’s next? Here are predictions by a panel of experts:

Martin O’Malley wins rematch in Maryland
Democratic incumbent Gov. Martin O’Malley won a second term in a rematch with Republican former Gov. Robert Ehrlich on Tuesday in a race that featured negative advertising and sniping debates between Maryland’s two biggest political rivals.

Election 2010: What voters say at Maryland polls
Peter Thomas, 55, a federal government worker who lives in Silver Spring, Md., said he voted for all Democrats on Tuesday. “I just think the Democrats are doing a great job, and I don’t want to give any support to the Republican establishment,” he said.

Young adults now eligible for parents’ plans
When Tamisha Jackson got a letter from her health insurer informing her she would no longer have coverage after she turned 22 last November, the Towson University graduate student immediately began to research individual plans. What she found, she couldn’t afford, so she opted out of health insurance altogether.