i want to thank your president teresa amott for having me here today. give her a big round of applause. [ applause ] i want to thank your congresswoman who's here. [ applause ] we've got governor quinn here. [ applause ] i'm told we've got your lieutenant governor, sheila simon is here. there she is [ applause ] attorney general lisa matting is here. i see a bunch of my former colleagues. some folks who i haven't seen in years and i'm looking forward to saying hi to. one in particular, john sullivan is in the house. [ applause ] john was one of my earliest supporters when i was running for the u.s. senate and it's came in handy because he's got ten brothers and his wife and sisters and his wife has got ten brothers and sisters so they have this entire precinct in their family and they all look like john. he doesn't have to go to every event. he can send one of his brothers out. it's good to see them. dick durbin couldn't make it today but he sends his best. we love him. he's doing a great job. [ applause ] we've got one of my favorite neighbors. the sen

knox college -- [cheers and applause] -- i -- i want to thank knox college and your president, teresa amott, for having me here today. give teresa a big round of applause. [cheers and applause] i want to thank your congresswoman, cheri bustos, who's here. [cheers and applause] where's cheri? there she is. we've got governor quinn here. [cheers and applause] i'm told we've got -- your lieutenant governor, sheila simon, is here. [cheers and applause] there she is. attorney general lisa madigan is here. [cheers and applause] i see -- i see a bunch of my former colleagues, some -- some folks who i haven't seen in years and i'm looking forward to saying hi to. one in particular i've got to mention. one of favorites from the illinois senate, john sullivan, is in the house. [cheers and applause] yeah, john -- john was one of my earliest supporters when i was running for the u.s. senate, and it came in really handy because he's got like 10 brothers, and his wife -- and sisters, and his wife's got 10 brothers and sisters. [laughter] so -- so they've got this entire precinct just in their family. [la