With 39.6% of the votes counted in Kentucky, scandal-plagued Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher is losing to his Democratic opponent by a 60.8%-39.2% margin.

When he was first elected by a ten-point margin in 2003, Fletcher was the first Republican to win a gubernatorial race in Kentucky since 1967, and the state GOP had high hopes that they were turning this border-South state solid red.

I guess the last four years haven't worked out so well.

8:05 p.m. ... With over half the votes in, Democrat Steve Beshear's 20-point margin is holding up. Fletcher has yet to concede defeat.

8:12 p.m. ... The Herald-Leader has declared Beshear the winner.

8:29 p.m. ... The Courier-Journal has also declared Beshear the winner. Beshear hasn't yet given a victory speech, and Fletcher hasn't given his concession.

Despite all my knowledge of political statistics, it's hard for me to actually think of a time in recent history when an incumbent governor lost a general election this badly.