SPRINGFIELD - A State Farm Insurance Cos. em ;ployee Monday announced a long-shot bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.

Alton C. Franklin III, 52, wants to run as an independent candidate against the Senate's second-ranking Democrat. He must collect 25,000 signatures to get on the ballot.

Franklin, a native of South Carolina and a resident of Bloomington since 2001, acknowledged the significant odds that face him.

"I'm as much a political neophyte as you can find," he said.

Also mulling a run against Durbin is Republican Steve Sauerberg, a physician from La Grange.

Franklin said he believes Durbin is out of touch with voters.

"I am the average citizen," he said in an interview Monday. Previous to taking his job as a systems analyst at State Farm, Franklin said he lived in Texas.

His campaign Web site is www.alton4illinois.org.

The Durbin campaign had no comment on Franklin's candidacy.

Kurt Erickson can be reached at kurt.erickson@lee.net or 789-0865.