Illinois, United States - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Illinois, United States Index / Locations Transcripts Melissa Winter ...was, I think, the rose, which was the Illinois state flower. All of thes... Richard Blanco ...moment I happened to be in Chicago [ Illinois ] for a poetry reading, actually. I wa... Reggie Love ...Durbin for—it was supposed to be for Illinois constituents, but oftentimes, you woul... Michael Strautmanis ...to the people of the state of Illinois . The one thing—and I give Leader Reid... ...had to accept was that his presence in Illinois just was not going to be what we wante... ...presence but wanted to focus on Illinois . We didn't do any national pres... ...on in Katrina. I think that focus on Illinois early on gave him a foundation tha... ...was right next door to the state of Illinois . If he needed to be back in the state... ...in on the state, refocus in on his Illinois constituents, and we just accepte... ...outgunned in any place except Iowa or Illinois . These people would be places, an... ...at, President Obama was in Springfield, Illinois , at the Old State Capitol wrappin... ...about issues that aren't related to Illinois , but we need to talk about this. Thi... Show more... Cleopatra Cowley ...Cleopatra is joining me from Chicago, Illinois . Cleopatra, thank you for taking th... Broderick Johnson ...was a young brother, state senator from Illinois . And I had worked for Presiden... Al Sharpton ...was still a candidate for the Senate in Illinois . I ran for the Democratic nominatio... ...president in 2004, which brought me to Illinois , where he was then running for U... ...night to win. You're running statewide, Illinois , from the senate.” I said, “I'm goin... ...birthday. A lot of people there from Illinois politics. Saw him once or twice. Then... Ray LaHood ...of our times. I was in Peoria, Illinois , where my home is, and I was anxiousl... ...you about how we can work together for Illinois .” And obviously, as someone who ha... ...issues. We worked on other issues for Illinois . I was on the Appropriation... ...a Senate office in Springfield, Illinois , which was in my congressiona... ...that he really not only cared about Illinois , but he knew that in order to ge... ...the people who served with him in the Illinois State Senate, who told me that he love... ...are we going to get our delegation, our Illinois delegation, to come together aroun... ...together. We talked a little bit about Illinois politics, which naturally you would... ...that we've had, mine in downstate Illinois , his in the Chicago area. But th... ...about how we were going to work for Illinois . And look. We exchanged cellphon... ...announced for president in Springfield, Illinois , I did not attend that event, but ... ...he was a friend, and he was from Illinois . In your perspective serving i... ...follow his leadership, work with the Illinois delegation, work with his othe... ...I was spending most of my time in Illinois , even though I wasn't running fo... ...I was spending most of my time in Illinois . I was not traveling the country. Bu... ...graders the Constitution—because in Illinois , you have to pass a Constitution tes... ...would teach kids about the—not only the Illinois Constitution, but the US Constitution... ...American president, and someone from Illinois , someone who I know, someone who ... ...I was a congressman from central Illinois . He and I would host dinners togethe... ...was very nice, and went to some of the Illinois festivities, the Illinois ball, and s... ...some of the Illinois festivities, the Illinois ball, and so forth. Then, on Januar... ...and another woman who worked for me in Illinois . I'm—you know, they're bot... ...Sam Skinner, former DOT secretary from Illinois , met me on the night that I was goin... ...I knew David Axelrod from my time in Illinois politics, and so David and I had a goo... Show more... Katie Johnson ...with this relatively young senator from Illinois , who had only been in the Senate for... ...time was, there was a person who was an Illinois politician in some capacity—I don'... Karen Richardson ...was to represent the people of Illinois and address their concerns, whether i... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the Russia Russia go to the Obama in the Senate Obama in the Senate go to the LGBTQ Policy LGBTQ Policy go to the Immigration Immigration go to the Democrats Democrats