“I’m running because we’re nowhere near cleaning up all the problems that we have in Chicago,” McDonough said. “It’s a train wreck. It’s going over the bridge, and it’s only going to get worse.”

McDonough, 50, now an investigator for the city of Chicago, said he believes hard work can create change. McDonough helped launch the probe into the city’s hired truck program in 2003, raising questions about the $40 million-a-year program that paid clout-heavy contractors, some with ties to organized crime, $40 an hour and up to do little or no work.

After news of the scandal broke, dozens of city workers were indicted. The FBI questioned Mayor Richard Daley for two hours about city payments to trucking firms.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the trucking companies in the hired truck program had donated $800,000 to Daley’s re-election campaign. McDonough vowed to battle the 48th Ward incumbent, Mary Ann Smith, and other opponents, just like he battled corruption in Chicago.

“It’s going to be ugly,” he said.

The 48th Ward encompasses the Andersonville neighborhood on the city’s North Side, where McDonough grew up.

“The area is extremely wealthy,” he said. “We have a very wealthy ward. The Andersonville part is very well-to-do.”

McDonough is running his campaign like he would an investigation; he’s said he’s going after what he thinks is wrong.

“We have to put everyone back to work,” he said, saying many jobs are leaving the city.

He opposes the privatization of city systems and services and challenges Daley’s portrayal of Chicago as a green city. He also supports state pension reform and a more robust oversight of tax increment finance (TIF) funds.

McDonough talked about his role as a whistleblower and his active reporting job as the publisher of Chicagoclout.com, a website he and other writers use to publicize corruption in the city. He said he is the only investigator in the city who does his job.

“I have people arrested, brought to court, I enforce the rules and the laws, and I consider the opportunity that I have an honor and a pleasure, and I also do the best that I can,” he said. “I give 110 percent to my job.”

He said he only gets about two to four hours of sleep per night.

Although he said he is an unwavering watchdog, McDonough praised city workers and said the majority of city workers work hard.

“There are a lot of people who love our jobs when it’s 20 or 30 below and they say that there’s a broken water main and the water is two or three blocks down the street and you can’t feel your fingers, all of a sudden everybody quits, and it’s guys like us that take care of things,” he said. “I don’t actually do it because I’m an investigator, but that’s how I started with the city of Chicago.”

McDonough is one of eight children and the father of five. Noting that his work as a whistleblower has prompted critics to call him a “snitch,” McDonough said he is 6 feet, 2 inches and weighs 250 pounds. “You can say whatever you want about me, as long as you don’t touch me,” he said.

After he blew the whistle on the city’s hired truck program, McDonough was investigated by the city, a strange turning of the tables for him.

“That’s how the city works,” he said. “So when someone does try proving the situation in Chicago, they consider that a threat on what they have going. And there’s millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars of money floating all over the place and they don’t like people like me exposing what they’re doing.”

“I’m the lone ranger out there and it really gets old,” he said.

Surrounded by his large family and frequently fighting back tears, Giannoulias said, “You know how emotional I am, so no more calling out ‘I love you.’”

“We will never forget what this campaign was about: putting people first, always, always,” he said. “My parents told me that if you lose, you always maintain your dignity.”

Giannouliasspoke proudly about his parents and his two brothers. He said they have had “a rough year” but they “never lost their dignity and class and have always been fighters and always held their heads up high.”

He may have been referring to his family’s work at the failed Broadway Bank, the community bank founded by his father, who was an immigrant from Greece.

Giannoulias’s race against Kirk drew national and international attention, since the seat was previously held by President Barack Obama. After Obama resigned from Senate seat, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was caught on tape by federal agents allegedly trying to extract promises of jobs or cash in exchange for the seat.

In polls leading up to election night, Giannoulias and Kirk were neck-a-neck, with Libertarian Party candidate Michael Labno and Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones trailing far behind. Jones won 3 percent of the vote on Tuesday.

Since the beginning of the election, Giannoulias tried to distance himself from his father’s bank on the city’s North Side. Kirk consistently tied Giannoulias and the bank to suspicious loan agreements with convicted mobsters.

Giannoulias received even greater criticism following a debate with Kirk on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press,” in which Giannoulias repeatedly dodged questions over when he quit his job at the bank.

During the televised debate, Kirk accused him of lying about when he left, citing his tax returns for 2008, which suggest he continued to work there. Giannoulias previously stated he left the bank in 2006.

Questions about Broadway Bank were also raised when the inspector general of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced the agency would release its report about the bank’s failure after the Nov. 2 election. Broadway Bank was closed April 23.

Giannoulias said his bank issued loans to many borrowers and he was not privy to all of the information about the loans.

Despite concerns raised over his family’s bank, Giannoulias has received an outpouring of support from notable Democrats, including President Obama.

On Saturday, Obama held a rally in Hyde Park to energize the Democratic base. He compared the country to a car that has been run into a ditch by Republicans in the previous administration.

Obama saved Giannoulias’ introduction for last on his list of prominent politicians in attendance at the rally saying, “Treasurer and soon-to-be Senator Alexi Giannoulias is here.”

Giannoulias ran on the Democratic platform and supported the federal health care reform law, LGBT rights, reforming the No Child Left Behind law.

Schakowsky, an incumbent who won 74 percent of the vote in the last election, has served in the House for 12 years, holds a leadership position among Democrats and has raised more than 11 times as much money as Pollak.

With less than a month to go before Election Day, Pollak, 33, is running a campaign against all odds for a “fresh start” in the 9th District, which encompasses parts of Rogers Park on the city’s far North Side and areas westward to Des Plaines.

Although the odds may be against him, Pollak spoke confidently about his ambitions in front of Park Elementary School in Evanston, where he delivered school supplies on a recent sunny fall afternoon.

“[Schakowsky] has been in office for 12 years and jobs here are down 5 percent. Is that her fault? No. But policy she voted for influenced that,” he said. “Everything happening in Washington is making things worse.”

Pollak said Republicans will probably win the majority in Congress this fall and that Schakowsky would be “sidelined.”

Pollak calls himself a fiscal conservative. He opposes the big bank bailouts and the Obama administration’s health care reform law. While he made clear that he is not a member of the Tea Party, Pollak received the party’s endorsement. They evidently share his concern for runaway spending at all levels of government.

A social moderate on some issues, Pollak supports a woman’s right to an abortion. He has no position on gays serving openly in the military; he favors civil unions but opposes gay marriage. He supports the 2nd Amendment and the right to own a gun. His biggest gripes with Schakowsky and the Democratic Party are mostly based on spending issues.

“She is the highest spender in the House and the biggest spender in all of Congress,” Pollak said, citing numbers released by the National Taxpayers Union. His campaign literature labels his opponent as a “bully” who opposes balancing the budget and limiting the national debt.

Schakowsky defended herself in an e-mail, saying, “That statement misrepresents what the National Taxpayers Union actually measures and distorts my record.”

“I am also one of 18 members of the President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, which is working to find solutions to our long-term deficit and debt problems,” she said. “I have approached our mission with a focus on eliminating waste and inefficiency in government programs, particularly in the defense department, and closing tax loopholes that benefit companies that take American jobs overseas.”

Pollak also explained his foreign policy views.

An orthodox Jew, he strongly supports Israel in the ongoing conflict with Palestinians and Iran.

“I think the United States should make it clear that it will support Israel if it were to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran,” Pollak said. “The better thing to do is to create a coalition of countries that’s willing to confront Iran together, which is more credible than simply having Israel alone, or the United States alone, and certainly, we need to indicate that we will defend our ally and stand with them if they decide to do it.”

He also said the U.S. should play an important role in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

“We shouldn’t overextend ourselves if one side or the other is not ready to make the necessary sacrifices for peace,” he said.

Pollak also criticized the Obama administration’s health care reform law, saying that it doesn’t produce better access to health insurance or a higher quality of health care.

He calls on insurance companies to sell health insurance across state lines, saying it would “help bring down costs. Greater competition lowers costs.”

“And I think we also ought to do something for the 6 to 8 percent of people under 65 who have pre-existing conditions and struggle to get access to health insurance,” he said. “If you ask the American people ‘What’s your top priority in health care?’ that’s probably what most people would say.”

Pollak argued that the law was hastily put together, and that lawmakers should “start over.”

Straying momentarily from politics, Pollak said he likes to watch TV and write in his free time. He was born in South Africa and raised in north suburban Skokie, where he graduated from Niles North High School. He went on to study at Harvard College and Harvard Law School. he later won a Rotarian scholarship and traveled to South Africa.

As a law student, Pollak took on U.S. Rep. Barney Frank at a televised press conference. Watch the video here.

The proposed legislation would allow gay couples to wed in Illinois. As the new bill waits in the legislature until next year’s session, opinions vary widely on the issue in the Chicago area.

“I don’t believe in it,” said Shirley Anderson, 51, of Woodlawn. “I don’t believe in it from a religious standpoint, but I don’t judge – that’s God’s job.”

“I think it’d be a good thing,” said Paula Botha, 25, of La Grange. “I don’t see why it should be any different for same-sex or opposite sex [couples].”

State Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago) introduced the Equal Marriage Act in the Senate on Oct. 1. Steans said the bill would be heard by Senate committees as soon as February or March.

“I’ve had a strong response and support in the Chicago area,” said Steans. “I will continue to work with like-minded advocates to advance the bill and am looking for as much help as possible in every area of the state.”

The bill is the first of its kind in the Illinois Senate, but succeeds a civil unions bill introduced in the Illinois House of Representatives in February by Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago). Harris also introduced an equal marriage bill, but it failed to move beyond the committee.

Supporters of the new bill hope to reignite the debate around same-sex marriage in Illinois now that the civil unions bill has stalled, after squeaking through the House Youth and Family Committee on a 4-3 vote in May.

While public opinion varies, activists are charged up on both sides of the issue.

“We’re trying to educate people about the harm that this bill will do to religious freedoms and First Amendment rights,” said David Smith, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, a religious organization that opposes same-sex marriage.

“There is a reason why the state recognizes natural marriage. It encourages it because it benefits the state,” Smith said. “It provides the ideal environment to raise children. What does gay marriage do? Nothing. It doesn’t benefit the state one iota.”

As religious institutions lobby against these bills, activists in the gay community are fighting for more than just marriage.

“I am for the equal marriage bill, but people need to remember that even with marriage equality in the state of Illinois – if it were to pass – it still means that most benefits of marriage are not accruable to gays and lesbians,” said Sherry Wolf, independent journalist, activist and author of “Sexuality and Socialism: History, Politics, and Theory of LGBT Liberation.”

“Most rights come from the federal government, not the states. So it is not enough,” she said.

Wolf was a committee member for the National Equality March in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 11. She said the march was a great start for activism.

“It was just the beginning. And what we need is ongoing speak-outs, rallies, speeches, film showings, sit-ins – all sorts of activism and public expression of dissent,” Wolf said.

“I have a positive outlook no matter what,” said Sidney Stokes, student and president of Common Ground, the LGBT group at Columbia College Chicago.

“If it doesn’t happen right now I know that Illinois, like the country, will one day have it,” he said. “I think the most important thing is to send a message to the legislature that Illinois wants this.”

Smith said the bill would not become law.

“It’s going nowhere fast,” he said. “It does not have the traction, despite the fact that the Democrats have a super-majority in the House and a majority in the Senate.”

For the last six years, the Illinois Family Institute has unsuccessfully lobbied to amend the state constitution to permanently ban same-sex marriage.

“Our amendment is not going anywhere,” Smith said, acknowledging House
Speaker Michael Madigan’s (D-Chicago) refusal to move the legislation to the committee. “It’s status-quo as of now,” he said.

Same-sex marriage rights were repealed in the state of Maine this month by a ballot measure called Proposition 1. Gay couples may marry in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire and Vermont.

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