Mark Kirk: Lied about going to war. Opposed middle class tax cuts. And said unemployment's not that big an issue.

It destroys you when people say complete mistruths about your family.

I remember when my father passed away, we drove the funeral procession past the bank so he could say one last goodbye. That's how much the bank meant to my father.

I can tell you that when I travel the state, when I talk to people, they are really struggling, in a very real way. They're losing their jobs, they're losing their homes, they're dealing with financial challenges.

I never took that stuff personally when people said I was too young, too inexperienced. I get politics. I get attack ads. But they said 'mobbed up family.' That we were criminals. That kills me.

We need to focus on green jobs: solar, wind, geothermal, biomass.There's so many opportunities. But other countries like China are getting ahead of the curve.

One of the biggest problems out there that I hear from my friends in the business community is that there's no lending, that it's tough to get a loan today.