A look at 18th District congressional candidates

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By Mike Riopell | Saturday, January 26, 2008 11:43 PM CST | () comments

SPRINGFIELD — Even before U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood began serving seven terms in Congress, his predecessor, Bob Michel, stuck around in Washington for an astounding 19 terms.

So when LaHood announced his impending retirement last year without an obvious successor, the race for the 18th Congressional District clearly drew interest.

Since then, three Republican candidates have been campaigning in hopes of winning the Feb. 5 primary election.

The district centers around Peoria, but covers swaths of central Illinois, including parts of Knox and Bureau counties.

Here is a look at the candidates:

Jim McConoughey

In December, a month or so before federal lawmakers began talking about mailing economic stimulus checks, Jim McConoughey said he thought voters’ interests were

changing.

McConoughey said he noticed voters becoming more interested in their own economic interests when asking him questions, and less focused on hot-button issues such as the Iraq war.

With the housing market in trouble and more talk about a U.S. recession, McConoughey has made the pitch to voters that a life-long businessman would make a good congressman.

“That’s part of my background,” he said.

Still, McConoughey said the three candidates’ similar views on many of the campaign’s substantive issues have made standing out a challenge — especially at debates when one person can steal a good idea and claim it as his own the next night.

“There’s a good deal of thieving,” he said.

And paying for his campaign hasn’t come easily. Recent campaign reports show McConoughey’s campaign fund has taken out $270,000 in loans. He loaned his campaign $70,000 of his own money and took $200,000 more from a Peoria bank.

But along with his background in business, McConoughey also has tried to emphasize what’s not in his background: Elected office.

He’s never held one, but says he has experience with Congress when working with lawmakers on economic development issues.

“I’m not a celebrity politician,” he said. “I think I’m in this for the right reasons.“

John Morris

John Morris says he never would have challenged U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood for his seat in Congress.

But Morris said he only took “two minutes” before deciding to run in the 18th District once the seven-term Republican announced his retirement.

Since then, Morris has run a race trying to emphasize his interest in issues of national security, consistently reiterating his message of being an “authentic conservative” who was born and raised in Peoria.

Because the three 18th District Republican candidates have similar views on issues, Morris has also tried to distinguish himself as the only candidate who has elected government experience and a family.

He often points out that he doesn’t think opponent businessman Jim McConoughey should have his first elected office be Congress, and said state Rep. Aaron Schock is 26 and single and doesn’t have family man experiences.

“That’s up to them to decide whether that’s relevant,” he said.

Morris formerly served eight years on the Peoria City Council and took a leave of absence from his job as a fund raiser at WTVP, Peoria’s public television station.

Shortly after he left, the station was found in technical default on a loan and faces an uncertain immediate future. Morris has said he had nothing to do with the financing problem but that the station’s troubles left him with conflicting priorities.

“My heart’s with the station,” he said.

If Morris wins Feb. 5, he’ll have a new job on Capitol Hill. If not, he may have additional challenges at the station.

“I’m sort of taking one challenge at a time,” he said.

Aaron Schock

Aaron Schock’s election to the board of Peoria’s large public school district at age 19 garnered him a lot of attention.

Now, in his campaign for Congress at age 26, his opponents have looked to Schock’s youth as a reason he’s not ready for the prime-time politics of Washington, D.C.

Schock, on the other hand, hasn’t shied away from his age as a campaign issue, instead arguing that his experience as a state lawmaker is what makes him more capable for Congress.

“Despite being the youngest of the three, I have the most relevant experience,” he said, in an oft-repeated campaign refrain.

Schock has, though, had to back-pedal on at least one statement that John Morris and Jim McConoughey have criticized for months.

When announcing his candidacy, Schock suggested the U.S. should perhaps sell nuclear missiles to Taiwan. The idea would be to force China to pressure Iran not to develop its own nuclear weapons.

After being loudly criticized over the idea of selling nuclear weapons to one country in order to curb the production of nukes in another, Schock backed off. Still, his opponents suggested the statement was an indicator that Schock isn’t ready for Congress.

Schock says the main challenge of the campaign has been the 20-county size of the 18th district. Now, he represents a densely populated area of Peoria County.

But he points to two victories in races for Illinois House in a district that leans toward Democrats as evidence he can get votes in the November election. Schock says political savvy and legislative experience are what distinguishes him from his opponents.

“We pretty much have the same views,” he said.