LOUISVILLE — Democrat Steve Beshear defeated a scandal-plagued Republican incumbent Tuesday to become governor of Kentucky, pulling off a political comeback 20 years after last holding office.

Beshear, a Lexington attorney who served as lieutenant governor from 1983-87, defeated Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who had been indicted on charges that he rewarded politically connected Republicans with jobs at the expense of Democrats.

Beshear, who served as lieutenant governor from 1983-87, reminded voters about Fletcher's scandal at every opportunity, whether in televised debates, political ads or stump speeches. Beshear made ethics a key issue in the gubernatorial race, saying Fletcher not only broke his campaign promise from four years ago to clean up Frankfort but had actually made a mess of his own.

With 88 percent of precincts reporting, Beshear had 528,750 votes or 59 percent, to Fletcher's 364,133 votes or 41 percent.

Jubilant Democrats partying at the Frankfort Civic Center cheered loudly as former Democratic Govs. Wendell Ford, Julian Carroll, Martha Layne Collins and Brereton Jones walked on stage, revving up the crowd for Beshear, who had run unsuccessfully for the job in 1987.

"He's the right man for the right time," Ford said. "He took his loss back there several years ago and prepared himself for this day."

Political scientist Kendra Stewart said she sensed a pervasive feeling among Kentucky voters that the Fletcher administration behaved unethically.

"I'm sure the hiring scandal is what created that perception," said Stewart, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.

At least 14 people were indicted, including the governor himself, who was charged with scheming to violate state hiring laws. Fletcher issued pardons to everyone but himself.

Prosecutors dropped the misdemeanor charges against Fletcher in a deal, in which he acknowledged that the evidence "strongly indicates wrongdoing" by his administration and that the actions "were inappropriate."

The governor has since maintained that the investigation and resulting indictments were politically motivated by Democrats to lessen his chances of being re-elected.

John Mason, a Lexington engineer, said he voted for Beshear even though he wasn't an enthusiastic supporter. "I'm actually voting against Fletcher," Mason said. "I've never seen a guy screw up in a governorship the way he has," Mason said as he left the polls at a small church.

Another Lexington voter, Patrick Galbin, said he voted for Fletcher.

"I think his problems have been mostly politics," Galbin said. "I think he's done a fine job. I think he's got high morals, and that's what the state needs."

Both candidates used religious themes in the campaign. Beshear emphasized his roots as the son of a western Kentucky preacher. On the eve of the election, Fletcher ordered the Ten Commandments to be displayed in the Capitol rotunda along with other framed historical documents. He said the timing had nothing to do with the election, though his opponent and political scientists scoffed at that notion.

An ordained Baptist minister, Fletcher tried to get the focus off the hiring scandal by criticizing Beshear on the issue of casinos. Beshear favors a referendum — not yet on the ballot — that would amend the Kentucky Constitution to allow casino gambling. Fletcher tried since early in the campaign to paint the governor's race as a referendum on casinos, saying a vote for Beshear would be the same as voting for expanded gambling.

Allowing casinos at horse racing tracks and in a handful of communities along the state's borders, Beshear contends, would generate $500 million in additional tax revenues that could be used to improve the lives of Kentuckians. But before the constitution could be changed to legalize casinos, voters would have to approve it in a ballot referendum.

Fletcher aired a series of TV ads vilifying casinos, saying, if legalized in Kentucky, they would bring a number of social ills, including divorce, suicide and prostitution. And in debates, the governor continually raised the issue, saying Beshear's support for a constitutional amendment on gambling shows he is out of touch with Kentucky voters.

At one point, Fletcher tried to win over voters by claiming that Beshear profited from the bankruptcy of Kentucky Central Life Insurance Co. while hundreds of employees lost jobs and investors lost their savings. Stewart said that strategy also failed.

Fletcher raised the issue in debates, stump speeches and in television ads before abandoning it late in the race.

Beshear's law firm, Stites & Harbison, was hired in 1993 by the state insurance commissioner to assist in the liquidation of the bankrupt Kentucky Central. A report, prepared by independent attorneys 12 years ago, said Beshear's law firm had a conflict of interest and should have withdrawn from the case.

However, the report said Beshear was not directly involved in the conflict, though he had "general knowledge" about it and that he should have turned over to former insurance commissioner.