Illinois, United States - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Illinois, United States Index / Locations Transcripts Timuel Black ...the IVI [Independent Voters of Illinois ]. The Independent Voters o... ...Illinois]. The Independent Voters of Illinois . That's right. He would've followe... ...organizations and Independent Voters of Illinois . It would not have been as easy an... Gerald Kellman ...region in the country was the Indiana- Illinois bistate area, larger than Pittsburgh... ...which is a very powerful job. In Illinois , we viewed it as the most powerfu... ...of the largest Baptist convention in Illinois in the process and sort of a ver... ...applications to the city, the State of Illinois , various foundations to foun... ...They're different college districts in Illinois . That's what that was about. It make... ...more diverse constituency, the state of Illinois , in order to take that second move o... ...job other than being a US senator from Illinois that was ideally suited politically fo... Show more... Bobby Rush ...Congressional District of Chicago in Illinois . Congressman Rush has been both ... ...to Obama, who was, at the time, the Illinois leader of the Project VOTE! Projec... ...woman senator, also coming from Illinois , Carol Moseley Braun, was running... ...him as he was running in 1996 for the Illinois State Senate seat. And one of th... ...that the IVI-IPO [Independent Voters of Illinois –Independent Precinct Organization... Daniel Shomon ...Senator Barack Obama's staff in the Illinois legislature during the late 1990s an... ...the only one. And the state senate in Illinois , the legislature—they say an alderma... ...the state. They had guys from Southern Illinois . They had a six-foot, ten-inc... ...who was a state senator from Southern Illinois , Dave Luechtefeld, and his name wa... ...just Coach. He was a certain approach— Illinois is a very diverse state, and he learne... ...he bonded with the people of Southern Illinois . And I said to him—one night we wer... ...said, “Because you're voting for all of Illinois . When you make votes, you're not jus... ...and he was in coal country in Southern Illinois . He had a golf outing every year tha... ...hundred degrees, and you're in Southern Illinois .” And he said, “I like this shirt... ...trying to instruct him about Southern Illinois . The way he contends—there's also ... ...in a different world—I mean, Southern Illinois is closer to Little Rock than it is t... ...and what was in their mind. Southern Illinois is also the place where Senator Simo... ...conservative districts within Southern Illinois . Was there a sense that this also wa... ...running for the entire state of Illinois , and in time a nationwide candidat... ...'04 that downstate is not monolithic. Illinois is not monolithic. So you had, in ever... ...Universalist churches all over Illinois . Well, they loved him, because that'... ...went to a Unitarian church in Central Illinois or you located progressive caucuses o... ...not factors—when he went to Southern Illinois , people didn't accuse him of bein... ...parts of the state now, it's different. Illinois is split up. Most of the souther... ...Congressman Lane Evans from Western Illinois to support Obama. That really rocke... ...endorse Obama. Which area of Western Illinois was Lane Evans representing? He wa... ...a line about going to Legion halls in Illinois at one point. How did people receiv... ...mean, he was going to areas in Southern Illinois that Democrats had never even steppe... Show more... Joseph Fugere ...Zoom. I am calling in from Normal, Illinois , where it is nine o'clock in th... Gretchen Stewart ...a superintendent of a district in Illinois , so that left me there as the onl... Pal Eldredge ...because he was a State Senator for Illinois . You know, Barry. Then all of a sudde... Thomas Holst ...industry? I was born and raised in Illinois . My educational training is i... Valerie Jarrett ...a little bit more of the state of Illinois . And that he could've won that when s... ...statewide office. He'd been to southern Illinois when he was a state senator, and s... ...to me that someone from Chicago or Illinois could go further than that. I thin... ...win the presidency. He often says that Illinois is like a microcosm of our country. Yo... ...was able to successfully win downstate Illinois gave him confidence that he could, i... ...why is that so much of the state of Illinois is in Chicago that it was reasonable t... Show more... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the East Wing East Wing go to the LGBTQ Policy LGBTQ Policy go to the Public Health Public Health go to the Arts and Humanities Arts and Humanities go to the Atlantic Relations Atlantic Relations