Political Quotes

“Paul Simon was absolutely the head of that part of the Democrats in Illinois that I have been associated with for so long. As a matter of fact, he was like the Seal of Good Housekeeping. That is, if you could get Paul Simon to say something good about you or endorse you, then it was the highest honor. You could not get any better than that. I have always remembered when I ran for the House, Senator Simon said to me, ``I don't endorse in primaries generally. This year I am going to make two exceptions. I am going to endorse Dick Durbin for my seat, who has been my protegee and worked with me. I am going to endorse you for the seat that you are running for.'' I have always counted that as one of the high moments of my political career. Someone mentioned all of the town hall meetings that Senator Simon would hold. I can remember attending many of those. In many instances, there might be only 15 or 20 people there, sometimes 10, and I would be amazed that this United States Senator would be at a small town hall meeting with 10 or 12 people, in an African American community, a little church, a library, and he would stay there two, sometimes three hours, just talking to the two or three people, trying to educate, trying to stimulate, trying to motivate.”