Quinn for Illinois

I was on the CTA Blue Line, headed to work.  So was Pat Quinn. I had met him once before, briefly, when I was volunteering at a political event.  I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t want to interrupt him while he was reading the newspaper. But he looked up, recognized me, and said, “Hector, how we doin’?”  I couldn’t believe it. Here he was, one of the highest-ranking elected officials in Illinois, and he was taking the El to work and he remembered my name.