Kirk Mottram and Travis DeNeal

CHICAGO Proving that money can make the candidate, state Sen. Peter Fitzgerald won the approval of the Illinois voters Tuesday, defeating challenger and early front runner Loleta Didrickson in the race for U.S. Senate.

Recent polls showed Fitzgerald handily beating Didrickson. The Inverness senator squeaked by his opponent enroute to a November showdown with Democratic incumbent Carol Moseley-Braun. The race, seen by many of the most negatively advertised in the primary, came down to the wire with both candidates fervently watching the late night returns at their respective headquarters.

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The greatest gift we can give the voters of Southern Illinois would be to defeat Carol Moseley-Braun, Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald, the heir to a family banking fortune, spent millions of his own money to defeat Didrickson, who was low on money but high on endorsements.

Didrickson, Illinois comptroller, was backed by the majority of the Republican leadership, including Gov. Jim Edgar, GOP gubernatorial nominee George Ryan.

The money spent by Fitzgerald was used to wage a full scale television attack on Didrickson, effectively painting the social moderate as too liberal for the Republican party. Many decried Fitzgerald’s tactics, but the efforts scored points with conservatives who decided Tuesday to reject Didrickson and her pro-choice, pro-gun control views.

The turnout of the election was remarkably low because of the heavy downpour that swept across the state. Pundits believe the low vote totals might have helped Fitzgerald because the die-hard conservatives backing him were more apt to vote in the primary. This scenario has mainstream Republicans staying home because of the rain and lack of interest.

Outspent almost 3-to-1, Didrickson has maintained throughout the race that Fitzgerald was devoid of concrete ideas and was determined to purchase a senate seat. Fitzgerald’s press spokesman Tim Bryers contends the race was won on issues alone and that any attempt to depict Fitzgerald as buying an election would be bogus.

We were confident Peter would be victorious tonight, Bryers said. The voters are concerned with the issues.

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This campaign is not about a candidate who has spent a lot of money to get elected. This campaign is about a candidate who cares about where taxpayer money is spent.

Fitzgerald’s message from beginning to end was centered around tax reform. Though both candidates touted a flat tax to replace the current federal income tax, Fitzgerald was more successful in persuading voters that he alone was the visionary tax reformer. Considerable time was spent trying to paint Didrickson as liberal not only on social issues but fiscal issues as well.

Our message and our strategy was the one Republican voters in Illinois agree with, Fitzgerald said. I’m not going to be defending or apologizing for wanting to lower taxes on the citizens of Illinois. I’m going to go on the offensive.

Didrickson conceded the race saying, It just wasn’t meant to be We just couldn’t overtake the downstate vote.

Daily Egyptian reporter Sara Bean contributed to this story.