The most famous incident of the campaign was turned into a racial cause celebre. On Palm Sunday, Epton supporters jeered former Vice President Walter Mondale and Washington as they attended services at St. Pascal's Church. The media focused on the racial aspect of the confrontation. The incident made front page news nationally and was used effectively by Washington in his ad campaign. Epton's poor campaigning style and the racial thrust of his supporter's actions gained Washington both sympathy and votes. The greatest reason for Washington's victory was his nearly unanimous support among black voters. He captured every black ward by overwhelming margins, winning 97% of the black vote. He won a majority of the Hispanic vote, and a substantial number of whites cast ballots for him, especially those from liberal lakefront wards. Epton carried the white ethnic wards on the northwest and southwest sides by impressive numbers. The city wide turnout was 82%, one of the highest in the city's history. Washington received 668,176 votes to Epton's 619,926 in this tight election.
This event reportedly shamed several thousand white voters into pulling the lever for Harold Washington. If almost on cue, we see the presumably racist behavior of some individuals at McCain/Palin campaign events being used as campaign pieces for Obama to sway moderates via shame.
Also see this incident explored in slightly greater detail and also in the overall context of the 1983 Chicago mayoral campaign in the book Mudslingers by Kerwin C. Swint
Link:
http://books.google.com/books?id=R4YUTlDOPxkC&pg=PA148&lpg=PA148&dq=St.+Pascals+Incident&source=web&ots=jSOqKIAR93&sig=RSdtWJKF9rmNmfq7ntBM22aAHmY&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPA148,M1
