My Congressman, Lane Evans, had his office contact my husband to invite us to a cookout in the backyard of one of his staffers. Even though it was 90 miles away, we decided to attend. There were pols from the Rock Island Democratic party, but we were the only ones from our county, Fulton. I'd say there were about 50 people there. Lane introduced us to Barack. He was in the Illinois State senate and we'd never heard of him before. We were curious and wondered why a Congressman from an area of Illinois dubbed Forgottonia would back a Chicago Democrat. When Barack shook my hand and looked in my eyes, I could see his soul.