Lexington Herald-Leader

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Beshear, a lieutenant governor and attorney general in the 1980s, completed an unlikely political comeback by winning the governor's office -- a position he sought unsuccessfully 20 years ago.

He defeated Fletcher by about 17 percentage points, according to unofficial returns.

"Folks, the people of this state have spoken and they've handed the reins of this state to us," Beshear declared, before calling for unity. "We all have one thing in common: Tomorrow we're all going to be Kentuckians."

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Beshear's 17-point margin over Fletcher, though decisive, wasn't among the most lopsided wins in a governor's race. But the 619,000 votes Beshear garnered is the most ever for a Kentucky gubernatorial candidate.

En route to setting that record, Beshear collected wide support across the state, isolating Fletcher's base to 23 south-central counties in the "Old Fifth" congressional district and five other counties.

Even in those counties, Fletcher's margins of victory from 2003 shriveled. He won Wayne County, a GOP stronghold, by just 4 votes after nearly doubling Democrat Ben Chandler's total there four years ago. Fletcher, of Lexington, and running mate Robbie Rudolph, a Murray resident, even lost their home counties.

Beshear, meanwhile, fared well in urban areas -- even conservative Northern Kentucky, where he won Kenton and Campbell counties.

Fletcher, the second Kentucky governor able to seek re-election after a state constitutional change in 1992, became the state's first sitting governor to lose a bid for a second term.

The night started poorly for Fletcher, with early returns from Louisville and Lexington showing a nearly 30-point deficit. Fletcher, earlier yesterday, predicted he'd have a late boost from rural counties.

Observers said the governor should have seen the wave coming, considering his job approval rating had remained at or below 40 percent for more than two years.

"It's rare that you see an incumbent so soundly beaten like this," said Richard Fording, associate professor of political science at the University of Kentucky. "And most of the time, you have an incumbent who at least sees this coming. It sounds like a man who has been in denial about this for a while."

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