Thank you everyone, thank you! What a great night. Back in the lab, we’d say that this was a pretty successful experiment!

Today the voters of the 14th district were given a national stage on which to speak to the country and we sent a clear message to everyone in Washington. You demanded change and you are demanding it now. You have said loud and clear you want an end to the bickering and political posturing. You want reasonable voices and workable solutions to the problems that you face every day.

I have heard you loud and clear, and the nation has as well. Change is on the way!

I want to say thank you to the voters of this district for putting your trust in me. I’ve lived here for over twenty years, and as I campaigned I was even more encouraged and inspired with the strength, courage and decentness of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans alike. One of the great lessons that I’ve learned in this campaign is that I really DO like people – it’s only the scientists that drive me crazy.

I have just spoken a few moments ago with Jim Oberweis, who called and congratulated us on our strong victory tonight. We have a different style, a different approach, and a different stance on the issues, but he ran a hard campaign and he deserves our appreciation for participating in this great democracy. And we’ll be doing it all again in November, so I won’t say anything too nice that might show up in one of his ads!

With so much wrong in our nation — a war with no end in sight, a healthcare crisis that worries families when they tuck their kids in at night, and an economy that sputters under the poor guidance of an administration more concerned about ideology and attack ads than fiscal sanity -- people have long felt we are off course. This country has been begging for its leaders to listen, to change, to address their problems. They’ve searched for a voice their government would heed.

Tonight, our voices are echoing across this country and Washington heard us loud and clear: it’s time for a change!

And we did it together. I owe so many of you so much, but I’d just like to take a moment to thank just a few of those that made this happen.

To my children, Christine and Billy; to their mother, who is my ex-wife and friend Ann, to Aesook and every one of our friends; and my brother Fred who is the star of our business and a costar in our commercials, and to my mother, the finest secretary that Senator Paul Douglas ever had – I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. I could not have gotten thru this without you. During this long year you were the ones who kept our spirits up. You were the ones who pushed us on. You faced the hard work, the long hours and all the stress with a smile and a can do attitude that made this campaign possible. When we began this campaign we knew it might get ugly, that it might get personal, because unfortunately that is the way some candidates have always run their campaigns and we expected no different this time. I was proud of the way our party conducted its primary, in this Special Election regrettably some of our fears were proven right. But during all the nastiness and behavior that had nothing to do with a serious debate about our country’s future, you didn’t flinch, you stood tall. And you showed a lot of class. I could not be more proud of you. Thank you.

And to the best campaign team in Illinois – thank you. To Tom Bowen my campaign manager, to Rachael and Matt who were there from the start, to Drew and Kevin and all of our field, finance and press people who helped us grow and put us in a position to win; and to Scott and the campaign veterans from all over the district, all over Illinois, and all over the country who guided us in for a smooth landing. And to all my political team, Pete, Keith, Jim and Jef, thank you.

I also owe a great deal of thanks to Labor and the AFL-CIO. Mark Guethle, our wonderful Kane County Chairman and one of the true leaders of this district, thank you. I owe a great deal of gratitude to AFSCME and SEIU who backed our campaign early and fought hard to help us win this election. From this day forward, Labor will be a force to be reckoned with in the Illinois 14th District!

I also have to thank Alexi Giannoulias for being the first elected official to realize we could change Washington. Dan Hynes, Phil Hare and especially Senator Dick Durbin gave us the crucial momentum we needed early. And to Jim Burke, the Democratic mayor of Ronald Reagan’s home town – and the first local mayor to endorse me!

This was a team effort from everyone in the Democratic Party and Illinois. Chris Van Hollen, Rahm Emanuel, and the DCCC came on like the cavalry over the hill, and sitting Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky was out knocking doors for us.

I also want to extend a special thanks to former Iraqi war vet and now Congressman Patrick Murphy. As many of you know I was inspired by Patrick’s long shot race for Congress two years ago. Patrick ran a come from behind campaign based on a commitment to change direction in Iraq and here at home. He showed me the way, and he was steady voice of support through some of those early, lonely times, and he never let me down.

But this campaign really was built from the ground up. So most importantly, I want to thank the hundreds of volunteers who showed up, gave us their time and efforts to make phone calls, walk the streets and get the vote out. From Alex Arroyo in the east to Jerry Sheridan in the west, you made this all possible, so thank you.

I began this campaign almost a year ago, because I believed our country was seriously off course. We were bogged down in an ill advised war in Iraq, and the Bush administration stubbornly resisted changing course. As I said during this campaign, I will be your vote in Congress to make that change happen.

The list of unsolved problems that our country faces is long. From getting our soldiers home from Iraq, to repairing a wounded economy, to universal and affordable healthcare, we have a lot of work to do – and that’s what I intend to do: to work. Not engage in the politics as we’ve come to know it in Washington. What we saw out of Washington these last few years is that even on those things we agree – covering more children with healthcare for example– there was no progress. Democrats wanted it. Republicans want it. But it didn’t get done. And nothing would give me more pride than being another vote, maybe THE vote, to finally override the President’s veto and expand health coverage to more and more children. For the next 10 months, that is the path to progress.

And no one has shown us that path more clearly than Senator Barack Obama, who shares this victory with us tonight. I want to thank Senator Obama for his support, but also for showing us the way. And for those of you following the election closely, there’s one more pledged superdelegate.

Senator, I’m happy to say tonight that “YES WE DID” and “YES WE WILL AGAIN” until the voters of this country have the change they deserve, an end to an endless war, an economy that works for them again and a healthcare system that serves us all.