The Bilerico Project | Daily experiments in LGBTQ

Jim Madigan is taking a big risk. He's running against the infamous Chicago Democratic Machine to try to become Illinois's only openly gay state Senator.

Check this guy out, he knows his stuff. And he's got what it takes to go toe to toe with former Governor Rod Blagojevich fundraiser Heather Steans; whose husband grabbed headlines by showing up drunk and crashing a Madigan fundraiser last month.

Tom Mannis of the Chicago News Bench and I jointly interviewed Jim over Skype two weeks ago. Check out Jim and what he's offering the people of Illinois--especially marriage equality advocates nationwide, who would see a win in Illinois as a nearly irreversible victory because of the difficulty of amending the Illinois Constitution.

I ask Jim a few questions after the jump.

Here's where I jump in and take over some of the questions.

With a progressive Democratic majority in both houses, and a Democratic Governor, Illinois may be very open to convincing on equality in terms of relationship recognition. With someone in the Senate pushing assuring the passage of a bill that mirrors the Greg Harris bill in the Senate, we may become one step closer. A marriage equality win in Illinois could be irreversible. The marriage equality movement ought to pay close attention to what is happening here in this state, just south of Iowa.

More about why Jim believes Heather Steans has got to go:

Finally, Tom and Jim on anti-discrimination laws.

Tom still has one more video to add from this series. If you're interested in the fifth piece, over the next few days, please check out his YouTube site at http://www.youtube.com/user/rogersparkbench. Tom may be Conservative, but he's fair here to Jim, and seems quite impressed by Jim's credentials. Check them out yourself!