United States Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Alexi Giannoulias, the Democratic nominee for the second U.S. Senate seat from Illinois in the 2010 election, attended a lunch in Monroe County on August 19, 2010.

Durbin and Giannoulias spoke with a crowd of just under 100 people at the Waterloo VFW Hall. Monroe County Democratic County Chairman Alan Pirtle was pleased with the turnout especially considering the event was held during lunch on a weekday without much notice.

Senator Durbin is the senior U.S. Senator from Illinois and has served in that position since 1996. Durbin is the second-highest ranking person in the leadership of the U.S. Senate. Alexi Giannoulias is Illinois' State Treasurer. In February 2010, he won a contested primary to become the Democratic nominee for the second U.S. Senate seat from Illinois.

In that primary election, Giannoulias won a higher percentage of Democratic votes cast in Monroe County, more than 70 percent, than he did in any of Illinois' 102 counties. Giannoulias thanked the Monroe County crowd for their support of him.

The U.S. Senate race in which Giannoulias is running is one of the most closely-watched Senate races in the nation.

At the Monroe County event, Giannoulias spoke about the Senate race not being about him, but being about the direction the nation should take; whether we should go back to past financial policies which led to the current economic difficulties or keep moving forward to put people back to work. Giannoulias pointed out that his opponent recently voted against Wall Street reform. He also noted that his opponent had recently promised to vote for the federal law that would bring money to Illinois to help make overdue Medicaid payments to medical providers and help save 5,700 teachers' jobs; however, his opponent instead voted against the law the day after promising to vote for it.

Monroe County Democratic Chairman Alan Pirtle said, "We were very pleased that Senator Durbin and Alexi took the time to come to Monroe County to meet with our voters. Alexi Giannoulias is no stranger to our county. He's been here more than once before. He toured Monroe County and met with local civic and business leaders long before he began running for the Senate. He assures me he will be back here before the election and he always tells me our county is one of his favorite places"

Alexi Giannoulias' campaign is the only major U.S. Senate campaign in Illinois history to refuse contributions from federal lobbyists or corporate PACs. When Giannoulias first became State Treasurer, he signed ethics rule changes that prohibited his Treasurer' campaign from taking contributions from his office's employees and prohibited contributions from companies who had contracts with the Treasurer's office.

Giannoulias graduated cum laude with a degree in economics from Boston University before earning his law degree at Tulane University. He was elected Illinois State Treasurer in 2006.