In Illinois, Obama to plead for a unity that's eluded him

Obama's speech to the Illinois General Assembly is a homecoming rich with nostalgia, as the president retraces steps he might have walked two decades ago as a young state senator from Chicago.

White House aides said Obama wanted to return to the place his career started to discuss how the U.S. can "build a better politics" in which Americans aren't so starkly divided by race, religion or political party.

In Springfield, Obama will call for making it easier to vote and embrace "a politics of hard-won hope," the White House said — themes that animated his longshot campaign for president.

In the past decade, Illinois has seen two governors convicted of corruption and later sent to prison — including Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, currently serving time in a federal prison for trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat that Obama vacated when he became president.

The two sides have yet to approve a budget more than eight months into the fiscal year, prompting massive cuts to higher education and social service programs.