Illinois delegates salute Kirk

This photo taken from video provided Aug. 5, 2012 by Sen. Mark Kirk’s office, shows Sen. Mark Kirk at his home in Fort Sheridan.

Illinois Republican Chairman Pat Brady led the state delegation to the Republican National Convention in a salute Monday to U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, who suffered a stroke in January and is not expected to attend.

Brady said party leaders “are executing Mark Kirk’s plan” for recapturing Illinois, which Brady predicted would occur by the 2014 election.

Here are his complete remarks on Kirk:

“There’s a guy a guy who should be here today and unfortunately he’s not. And that’s U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk. As all of you are aware, Mark had a stroke a few months back and is struggling to recover. ”

“I spent an hour with him a couple of weeks ago and if anybody ever doubted their vote for Mark Kirk, the courage he has shown in recovering from his stroke validates your vote.”

“And I think everybody in the state of Illinois is seeing what a brave, tough–physically and mentally tough–human being Mark Kirk is. And everything we do here today, and all this recovery the Republican party is going to have in the next three or four years–all the money we’re going to raise and all the good candidates we’re going to put out–we are executing Mark Kirk’s plan.”

“So Mark, we are with you. We wish you were here today.”