Democrats Appear to Resurge in Kentucky

Democrat Steve Beshear, campaigning at a Cadiz, Ky., restaurant, appears headed to victory over Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher on Tuesday. (By Peter Slevin -- The Washington Post)

In this year's governor's race, Beshear's own search for a suitable Democratic contestant to face Fletcher led him back to himself. After losing a 1987 race for governor and a 1996 Senate race to McConnell, Beshear swears he had given up dreams of winning.

But when several prominent Democrats opted out, he opted in -- and soon won the May primary.

Republicans gave him a gift when Fletcher walloped Northup, who, after her defeat in 2006, ran in the GOP primary for governor. For Beshear, who presented a sobersided image of respectability and responsibility, Fletcher and his ethical problems offered a more generous target than Northup would have.

Although Fletcher campaigned in 2003 on a promise to end "good ol' boy politics" in the governor's mansion, he soon placed loyalists in state jobs meant to be based on merit. A grand jury called it an "illegal plan" and said "those who got in the way of the plan were fired or moved."

Fletcher declined to testify, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

When Fletcher and 14 aides were indicted, he pardoned the aides and made a deal with the Democratic attorney general, who dropped the charges against him in return for a signed admission that "the evidence strongly indicates wrongdoing by this administration." Fletcher signed but later dismissed the case as a "witch hunt."

The events gave a platform to Beshear. Just minutes into his talk in Cadiz, he said "honesty and integrity" are values that have been absent from the capital during Fletcher's four years in office. He spoke of the importance of "being responsible and accountable for ourselves."

"These are the kind of values that I grew up with, that you grew up with and that we're going to put back in the governor's mansion on November 6," Beshear said to a smattering of "amens."

Beyond a description of Fletcher's health-care policies as "immoral" and a catchall promise to bring economic progress to western Kentucky, Beshear's only foray into policy was a pledge to improve the "dismal job" he said the state and federal governments are doing for war veterans.

Fletcher, too, says "this race is about values." He points to casino gambling, which he opposes, as well as a list of social issues. He says Beshear cannot be trusted on what the governor calls "the four Gs: God, guns, gynecology and gay rights."

By gynecology, he means abortion rights.

Beshear, for his part, is counseling his supporters to stay strong.

"It's time to stop these people," he told the Cadiz audience, "from saying you cannot be a person of faith and be a Democrat."

Afterward, Beshear said he believes Democrats nationwide have often put too much emphasis on policy pronouncements and not enough on polishing their personal appeal to voters. Too much about issues, he said, and too little "about who they are and their values."