Plowing through the fallen leaves that mark October, Hamilton Chang is on a mission.  He is trying to make connections with voters on a personal basis as he looks for their support on Election Day in a race that is being followed closely throughout the state.

Chang, 43, is seeking to become the first Asian-American to become a member of the Illinois Legislature.  He wants to replace Republican Elizabeth Coulson in the 17^th District and is taking on Democrat Daniel Biss, who narrowly lost to Coulson two years ago.

Chang, a financial advisor, who lives in Wilmette said the mounting financial problems of Illinois were frustrating him and he thought if he ran for office it would make a difference. "I've been watching the direction of this state and the iron fist of the machine running it," he said.  "[Illinois is] billions of dollars of indebtedness with the pensions and a $13 billion budget deficit, it's ridiculous. I just got fed up.  I'm a businessperson and I'm not ashamed of it. I've done well," said Chang.

He said he will continue to pursue his business interests if elected and he said the job was designed to be part-time.

But to get to Springfield in the first place, he has to win over voters and this being his first foray into politics, he has to become a household name. He attempts to do that on the campaign trail.

At a coffee shop in Wilmette, a fellow Asian-American supporter stops him and they compare ancestries.  When he is going house to house, he loves to talk about coaching baseball and the mutual acquaintances he has with the people he hopes will vote for him on Nov. 2. He even compares notes with one Wilmette resident as both men have suffered torn Achilles tendons.

Yet with the state GOP envisioning a scenario where they could take over the Illinois House, both state parties are paying close attention to this race. 

While stating he doesn't know how much the Illinois Republican Party has given to his campaign, a look at campaign disclosure forms shows Chang received over $23,000 from the state Republican Party in just October alone to pay for mailings.  Biss has also received substantial support from the state Democratic Party.

"I also have the support of my party, but my party has not been in control for a decade and [ran] our state into the ground," Chang said.

Not surprisingly, the Biss campaign had a different view as they tried to distance themselves from Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

"In the fall of 2009 when Speaker Madigan was trying to find someone, anyone to run against Daniel in the Democratic Primary, Hamilton Chang held a press conference with Minority Republican leader Tom Cross and announced his political run for office," said Biss campaign manager Karen Nystrom in a statement.  "Tell me who pulls the strings in that campaign?"

If Chang is elected, he promises he will call for a forensic audit of the state budget and wants to push a stronger ethics reform package than what has already passed.  He faults Biss who served as a policy advisor on ethics to Governor Quinn.

"Mr. Biss spent eight months on Governor Quinn's Ethics Committee that passed according to the national press, the weakest ethics reform of all 50 states," Chang said.

 "It's easy for Hamilton Chang to point fingers when he has absolutely no record of ethics reform" Nystrom responded. "Daniel Biss was proud to be involved with the 2009 campaign finance reform bill that imposed the first ever contribution limits in Illinois."

The charges and counter charges are going to continue until Nov. 2.  The question becomes who will entice enough voters to look past the bickering and wrangle in the votes. In one case, Chang's personal approach worked.

While stopping off at the home of Al and Sheila Hurley, Chang gets questions about the state deficit and fallen property values. Chang talks about mutual friends they have and a litany of issues facing the state. He leaves with one person promising to vote for him.

In the words of Sheila Hurley, "It's nice to vote for someone familiar."