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State Week: Obama In Springfield

Dick Durbin, Barack Obama, Bruce Rauner, Jim Langfelder
Pool photo by Justin L. Fowler
/
The State Journal-Register
From left: Sen. Dick Durbin, President Barack Obama, Gov. Bruce Rauner and Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder on the tarmac at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport. The governor and mayor greeted Obama and Durbin as they stepped off Air Force One.

President Barack Obama returned to Springfield to address the Illinois General Assembly this week. He's renewing the central argument of his first campaign for president: that most Americans want a less bitter, less divisive form of politics. Did his message resonate with Illinois lawmakers? Why did he call out Rep. Ken Dunkin? And who doesn't like horseshoes?

Monique Garcia of the Chicago Tribune joins Sean Crawford, Amanda Vinicky, Brian Mackey and Charlie Wheeler to talk about that and more.

Bonus horseshoe coverage:

The Good: "Obama doesn't like horseshoes?"
(The State Journal-Register, Feb. 10, 2016)

The Bad: "Springfield's Horseshoe Sandwiches Deliver a Kick in the Gut"
(The Wall Street Journal, March 30, 2010)

The Ugly: "How to make Illinois' favorite sandwich. (Just don't offer it to Obama.)"
(The Washington Post, Feb. 12, 2016)

The Ironic: "Local eateries create the Obama horseshoe"
(The State Journal-Register, Jan. 21, 2009)

NPR Illinois State Week logo (Capitol dome)
Brian Mackey
/
NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS

Brian Mackey hosts The 21st Show and formerly reported on state government.
Amanda Vinicky moved to Chicago Tonight on WTTW-TV PBS in 2017.
The former director of the Public Affairs Reporting (PAR) graduate program is Professor Charles N. Wheeler III, a veteran newsman who came to the University of Illinois at Springfield following a 24-year career at the Chicago Sun-Times.
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