CHICAGO - Abraham Lincoln apparently doesn't attract votes like he used to in Illinois.

The state Bureau of Tourism on Monday plans to announce the results of its "Seven Wonders of Illinois" promotion, which the public began voting on in February.

And nowhere on the list is anything to do with the nation's 16th president: not his home, not the building where he gave the "House Divided" speech and not his final resting place, so popular the nose on his bronze bust has been rubbed shiny.

The winners, one for each of seven regions, include five nature sites, one temple, and the home of a team known for fans who "wonder" if their team will ever again win the World Series:

• Northern: Starved Rock State Park, Utica.

• Central: Allerton Park and Retreat Center, Monticello.

• Western: Black Hawk State Historic Site, Rock Island.

• Southern: Rend Lake, Benton.

• Southwest: Meeting of the Great Rivers Scenic Byway, following a 33-mile strip of river through Alton, Grafton, Hartford and Elsah.

• Chicago: Wrigley Field.

• Chicagoland: Baha'i House of Worship, Wilmette.

Nominees, finalists and the final seven were determined by visitors to the www.enjoyillinois.com Web site. Vote totals are not being released.

Although there were no rules on what could be considered a wonder (a Popeye statue was nominated, for instance) the winners indicated that voters were inclined to think of them as natural wonders, said Jan Kostner, the bureau's deputy director.

"It's really nice to see some different sites in the state emerge and get some attention," she said, citing Allerton Park and the Black Hawk State Historic Site as places most Illinoisans probably aren't familiar with.

She admits she was surprised none of the seven wonders are associated with Lincoln. "On the flip side, Lincoln always gets a lot of attention and always will get a lot of attention," she said.

Lincoln's tomb and the new Lincoln presidential library and museum, located in Springfield, were finalists. Both, however, finished behind the city's Cozy Dog Drive-In, which bills itself as "home of the original hot dog on a stick."

"Well, Cozy Dog is pretty good, I can't say that it's not," said Daniel Weinberg, owner of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago. "But I can think of some hot dog places around Chicago I'd take ahead of it."

In his opinion, Lincoln could have been declared a wonder all on his own. "We don't even need his home," he said.

If he were compiling a list of the state's seven wonders, Weinberg said his top choice would be the political culture of Illinois, as symbolized by Springfield's Old State Capitol.

Lincoln served there when he was a state representative, and it was the site of his famous speech warning that America could not remain half slave and half free.

"It's just a special place, the things that went on there, the ghosts that arise there," Weinberg said. "And there's no place like the politics in Springfield, Illinois. Even inside the Beltway can't compete with the political culture of Illinois."

Weinberg would be glad to know that some old fashioned, Illinois-style clout was put to use by at least one of the wonders.

At Allerton Park, staff members sent out e-mails urging volunteers, friends, family members and employees at the University of Illinois' Office of Continuing Education to go online and vote. The site, consisting of a Georgian-style mansion and 1,500 landscaped acres, is owned by the university.

"We're the best kept secret here in central Illinois," said Kim Petzing, Allerton's environmental program coordinator. "When we were nominated, we said, 'We need this, we really need this."'

Downloadable videos, histories and suggested itineraries for each of the seven wonders will be available on the tourism bureau's Web site.

There are those who will wonder how a flat landscape like Illinois can have five natural sites among its wonders. The average Illinoisan might say, "I wonder where the heck Rend Lake is?"

But Kostner said it's not fair to compare Illinois with states that offer oceanfronts or mountain vistas.

"Our parks are different and unique to our land and our terrain," she said. "Hopefully what we'll be able to do is to convey the story of each of these sites, what's compelling about them, and people will see how beautiful they are."

Illinois wonders that didn't make the cut

The following are some of the more famous sites or buildings in Illinois that were not named among the state's seven wonders. A star represents that the listing was among the 12 finalists for its region:

• Sears Tower

• Lake Michigan

• Lincoln Home

• Garden of the Gods

• Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio

• Auditorium Theater

• Cahokia Mounds

• Historic Nauvoo

• Robie House

• Brookfield Zoo

On the Net

Illinois Bureau of Tourism: www.enjoyillinois.com