After a nine-year hiatus from politics, Steve Beshear's star is rising again.
One of Kentucky's top vote-getters in the 1970s and '80s, Beshear scored his first political victory of the '90s on Tuesday by easily beating two rivals for the Democratic nomination to oppose Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell. McConnell swamped his lone primary challenger.With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Beshear had 66 percent, former Rep. Tom Barlow had 24 percent and retired police officer Shelby Lanier had 10 percent.
McConnell, seeking his third term, got 88 percent of the vote, while perennial GOP candidate Tommy Klein of Louisville got 12 percent.
Beshear, after three terms in the Kentucky House, won statewide election as attorney general in 1979 and lieutenant governor in 1983.
His winning streak ended in 1987. Running in the Democratic primary for governor, Beshear finished third behind former governors Wallace Wilkinson, who won, and John Y. Brown Jr.
Beshear retired from politics to join a lucrative law practice but said he decided to run for Senate this year because "Congress is owned body and soul by special interest groups." He also said the current campaign finance system allows senators to be "bought and sold like sacks of potatoes."