BEVERLY — Mayor Bill Scanlon rolled to a record eighth term last night, capping a bitter campaign that ended with Scanlon once again refusing to shake the hand of challenger John Burke.

When campaign workers posted the final results showing Scanlon's 1,800-vote margin of victory on a large screen at the Vittori-Rocci Post, supporter Victor Capozzi shouted, "That's a mandate," as the 100 or so onlookers exploded in applause.

Scanlon, 69, won 59 percent of the vote, a margin in line with some of his previous seven victories since he first assumed the mayor's office in 1993. As Scanlon's wife, Louise, hugged a supporter, she called it "the best win yet."

"This is a very, very special night," Scanlon said as he took the stage alongside Louise. "It was a long and difficult campaign. I've never been involved in a campaign before where so many things were said and printed and posted that were not true.

"But here we are, and the people have decided."

Burke, accompanied by his brother and girlfriend, arrived at the Vittori-Rocci Post an hour-and-a-half after the polls closed to congratulate Scanlon. Burke walked through the hall to reach the mayor, who was standing among supporters and celebratory red-and-blue balloons strung from chairs.

When Burke reached out his hand, Scanlon shook his head and said, "Nope." Burke responded by mockingly genuflecting and making the sign of the cross.

As Burke turned to walk across the hall and out the door, his brother, Frank Dolley, yelled, "Your man has no (expletive) class."

An unidentified Scanlon supporter yelled in reference to Burke, "Ask him about his girlfriends," before Scanlon spoke up and asked the crowd to quiet down.

Scanlon had also refused to shake Burke's hand after a debate two weeks ago. Asked about his decision to snub Burke again, Scanlon said, "I told him two years ago in this hall on election night that I would never shake his hand because he tried to ruin the lives of some perfectly good people."

That was a reference to an anonymous letter that Burke, a three-term Ward 3 city councilor, wrote two years ago to the City Council accusing the Police Department of covering up alleged incidents involving people with connections to city officials. Burke was discovered as the author when he inadvertently left his computer flash drive in City Hall. The City Council voted to censure Burke over the incident.

Burke said he did not want to comment on Scanlon's refusal to shake his hand.

"I don't want to speak for him and I don't worry about what other people do," he said. "I think it was the right thing to do, to go and concede. It sets the right example for the people who followed me. It's important for a person who represents a lot of people to shake hands and call it a day. He can speak for himself about whatever was on his mind."

The campaign was marked by personal attacks on both sides, with Scanlon establishing a Web site that highlighted a restraining order against Burke when he was a teenager in foster care. Burke accused Scanlon of "name-calling and arrogance."

Joyce McMahon, Scanlon's campaign manager, said a telephone poll the campaign had commissioned showed that Scanlon was winning by about the same margin as yesterday's victory. Still, Scanlon went all-out to avoid an upset loss like the one he suffered eight years ago to Tom Crean.

"In the last three weeks we had an unbelievable swell of volunteers who wanted to participate in the campaign," McMahon said. "We had 130 people holding signs on Cabot Street on Saturday. I felt like the momentum had become ours the last three weeks. We were riding the wave."

As the results came in to the Scanlon campaign last night, Scanlon fell behind immediately when Burke took his home Ward 3 by 300 votes. But Scanlon made up the votes quickly, piling up big margins in the city's three largest wards, 4, 5 and 6.

Scanlon watched anxiously as his campaign workers posted the numbers on the screen. When his 400-plus-vote victory in Ward 5 went up on the screen, he said, "Oh, that's good."

Scanlon ended up taking five of the city's six wards.

"I'd like to think of this as a reward for 14 years of hard work by myself and a whole lot of other people," said Scanlon, who is already the longest-serving mayor in the city's history.

Scanlon was ebullient as he addressed his supporters, pointing out more than a dozen of them by name. When a cell phone rang out, Scanlon joked, "Did we get the wrong results?" and the crowd exploded in laughter.

"I'm working on getting a personality," Scanlon said, making light of the criticism that he can be difficult. "I sure as hell have a lot of friends for a guy with no personality."

Scanlon then turned serious, saying the city is facing "difficult times" financially and is likely to experience more cuts in state aid.

"It's not going to be an easy time, but we are doing the right things at the right time," he said. "I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to work over the next two years to make Beverly a better place.

"It doesn't get any better than this," he added. "This was a very satisfying victory."

Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2675 or pleighton@salemnews.com.