I remember when my father passed away, we drove the funeral procession past the bank so he could say one last goodbye. That's how much the bank meant to my father.

One of the biggest problems out there that I hear from my friends in the business community is that there's no lending, that it's tough to get a loan today.

Family businesses that have been around for generations are suddenly closing their doors, and while I'm not comparing my situation or my family's situations to theirs, the fact that my father's business, which has been around for 30 years, might not be around, it gives me a perspective that makes me want to fight even harder for a lot of people.

When I talk to people, their concern is, how are you going to create jobs? How are you going to help turn this economy around? How are we going to make sure that when my kids get out of high school or college there will be some job there? Those are the concerns that are on their minds.

I can tell you that when I travel the state, when I talk to people, they are really struggling, in a very real way. They're losing their jobs, they're losing their homes, they're dealing with financial challenges.

But if, if you take a look at what would have happened, I mean, do we need to see soup lines down the street to figure out what would have happened? We avoided - and all economists will tell you that millions of jobs were saved because of the Recovery Act, and we avoided a second Great Depression. That, that is a reality.

Mark Kirk: Lied about going to war. Opposed middle class tax cuts. And said unemployment's not that big an issue.

We need to focus on green jobs: solar, wind, geothermal, biomass.There's so many opportunities. But other countries like China are getting ahead of the curve.

It destroys you when people say complete mistruths about your family.

I never took that stuff personally when people said I was too young, too inexperienced. I get politics. I get attack ads. But they said 'mobbed up family.' That we were criminals. That kills me.

If, if more stimulus means more tax cuts to small businesses, if, if more stimulus means middle class tax cuts, then I'm for it.

While I can't promise you that I'm going to be a perfect candidate and I can't promise you that I'm not going to make mistakes, I can unequivocally promise you that no one, no one, will work harder on your behalf, no one will fight harder with you and no one will make you more proud.