Travis DeNeal and Kirk Mottram

Daily Egyptian Political Reporters

CHICAGO Poor voter turnout left the Democratic gubernatorial race in the air, as experts attempted to predict the winners and party supporters crowded around televisions in candidates’ campaign headquarters to hear the latest results.

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Southern Illinois gubernatorial candidate Congressman Glenn Poshard took an early lead in the polls and waited with his downstate supporters in his Marion campaign headquarters for the results to pile in. At 10:30 p.m. fellow Democratic candidate John Schmidt, a former U.S. Justice Department official, called to concede the victory to Poshard.

I don’t know how many signs you can make, how many you can put up, and how many doors you can knock on, but I am thankful for my friends and that’s you, Poshard told the crowd in Marion.

Remember what we stand for. We have roots. Let’s be proud.

Shortly after 10 p.m. the Associated Press declared Poshard the victor. With 92 percent of the precincts reporting as of press time, Poshard owned 37 percent of the votes, former Comptroller Roland Burris had 31 percent, Schmidt had 25 percent and former U.S. Attorney Jim Burns had 6 percent. Lesser known Democratic candidates Larry Burgess and Maurice Horton each gained less than 1 percent of the vote, according the Chicago Tribune website.

Television broadcasters labeled Republican gubernatorial candidate and Secretary of State George Ryan as that contest’s winner with 86 percent of the Republican vote just after 8 p.m.

John Kass, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune and political analyst said the volatile nature of the Democratic race would leave a winner impossible to predict until the final vote had been counted.

He cited Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan’s endorsement of Poshard and an assumed, but unofficial, endorsement of Schmidt by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley as playing a significant role in the tumultuous contest.

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It’s been a fascinating turn of events, Kass said. I don’t know if it will turn Poshard around, but it is an interesting thing.

The Cook County Board of Elections projected the turnout in Cook County to be 33 percent, while 32 percent of downstate voters ventured to the polls. The turnout in Cook County has been cited as a 40-year low in primary elections. DuPage County, just west of Chicago, also suffered from the continual downpours that engulfed Illinois Tuesday. The county’s election board recorded the percentage of registered voters casting ballots in the high 20s.

Burns has been slipping in polls weeks before the election and has dropped significantly in recent tallies. The erosion of Burns support seemed to have favored Schmidt who shared some of the support of north shore Chicago with Burns. A Copley News Service poll two weeks ago found Burns at only 6 percent, down from the 11 percent he enjoyed in an early Chicago Tribune poll.

Pundits to this point have dismissed Burns chances, saying the McLeansboro native has drowned in the same race that has befallen many potential voters. With Burns out of the picture, the race became a dog fight between Poshard, Schmidt and Burris.

Poshard was the only candidate in Southern Illinois on election day. Burns, Burris and Schmidt remained in Chicago where each hoped to reap enough of the votes to catapult in front of Poshard, who relied on a strong downstate showing.

Schmidt graced the ballroom of the Midland Hotel in downtown Chicago Tuesday night, gleaming with optimism while unsure as to how the night would transpire. Upon Schmidt’s entrance 200 supporters milling around the ballroom burst into applause.

The candidate immediately was swallowed by his supporters, and virtually disappeared. Schmidt faithfuls became silent, craning necks and standing on tiptoes to get a peek at their man.

He suddenly appeared again, circled by a swarm of reporters and cameras, while the crowd clapped to the background music, Jim Croce’s Leroy Brown.

Schmidt said he wished more people had voted in the primary.

It’s the voters who go to out the polls to make the decisions, he said in his concession speech. They made the decision here, and I respect it.

Schmidt then hugged his wife as the band somberly played John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt one last time.

Meanwhile in his acceptance speech in Marion, Poshard said he is ready to battle Ryan for the coveted position of Illinois governor.

We have one goal, and that goal is to bring unity to this party and bring victory to us, he said. And we are going to achieve that goal in November.

Daily Egyptian reporters J. Michael Rodriguez and Karen Blatter contributed to this story.