CHICAGO (WBBM) – More than one thousand supporters and union members packed Plumbers Hall on the Near West Side Tuesday night as part of the “Putting Illinois Back to Work” rally.

LISTEN: Newsradio’s Lisa Fielding Reports

Governor Pat Quinn appeared to be losing his voice as he talked about his bid to keep his job. He spoke briefly about his promise to create jobs and not cut the minimum wage. He then introduced the Vice President.

“He’s got a fighting heart for working people. Vice President Joe Biden!”

Biden spent most of the time talking about the economy.

“Things are turning around. Yes there have been jobs lost but thousands of them were lost before I even took the oath of office. We’ve had four quarters of economic growth. Things are looking up.”

He praised Gov. Quinn for his work over the last year.

“The guy inherited an enormous budget deficit, sky rocketing unfunded pension liabilities, an economy in crisis, a massive loss of trust in the governor’s office. He never complained,” Biden said.

“He got to work. He passed a law giving small business a $2,500 tax credit for every person they’d hire, he worked with the business community to put together 90 different investment packages … he got through a major infrastructure plan that’s going to put hundreds of thousands of people to work.”

Biden comes to Chicago after campaigning in Pennsylvania and earlier in Iowa. President Barack Obama stumped in Illinois last week. First Lady Michelle Obama will be here Wednesday to raise money for congressional Democrats and Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias.

Senator Dick Durbin, Mayor Richard Daley, Congressman Danny Davis, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Secretary of State Jesse White and others also were on hand for the campaign rally.