Dem Day itself traditionally begins with the County Chair Breakfast. Turn-out this year was extraordinary. Tables were squeezed into the hall and it was standing room only near the back.
All the statewide Democratic officials spoke. A lot of it was focused on the national election and the need to travel to battleground states. Senator Durbin, here speaking, reminisced about an early discussion he had had with Obama encouraging him to run: "Some times you pick the moment and sometimes the moment picks you," he recalled telling Obama.