SPRINGFIELD - For as long as most voters can remember, the congressional district now represented by U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood has been occupied by a Republican.

LaHood is retiring at the end of his term after 14 years in office, and he succeeded Republican Bob Michel, who served for 38 years and attained the rank of House minority leader. Michel's predecessor also was a Republican.

So when LaHood announced his intention to retire from the 18th Congressional District last year, it was clear any Democratic challenger could face an uphill battle trying to win the seat.

On Election Day, voters will choose whether to continue GOP dominance in the Central Illinois district with Republican Aaron Schock, a 27-year-old state lawmaker from Peoria. Or, in the midst of a national trend favoring Democrats, voters could choose Democrat Colleen Callahan of Kickapoo, a longtime local farm broadcaster.

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In addition, Green Party candidate Sheldon Schafer of Peoria has stayed active in the campaign.

Schock has lots of campaign cash and local Republican support. But Callahan has run a campaign sharply critical of the young lawmaker at a time when Democrats are poised to capitalize on political trends and pick up a number of seats in Congress.

Bradley University political scientist Craig Curtis said the 2008 campaign has been the most competitive for the seat he's seen in a long time.

"Colleen Callahan is much more severe as a candidate than anyone who challenged LaHood," Curtis said.

Callahan has used TV ads and news conferences to try to sting Schock about revelations he backdated documents for his father as a notary. And she criticized the Republican for his primary-campaign comments that the United States could sell nuclear weapons to Taiwan in order to influence China's policies toward Iran.

Callahan didn't participate in that primary, though. Originally, former Bradley and NBA basketball coach Dick Versace was the Democrat tapped to run. But Callahan stepped in after Versace dropped out for personal reasons.

Callahan runs a business doing communication consulting in Peoria. She would have voted for Congress' economic bailout plan and supports a timeline for removing troops from Iraq.

In a debate during the campaign, she proposed reinstituting a revised version of a draft in order to rebuild the military.

Callahan doesn't have nearly the campaign resources Schock does, but she has seen money flood in recently after her attacks on the notary issue led to donors giving her $75,000 in one week.

"We knew from the beginning we were the underdog," Callahan said.

Part of that perception comes from the district's Republican history, as well as Schock's record in winning races. He now serves as a Republican state lawmaker from a Democratic-leaning district and fought two expensive, difficult campaigns to win his current seat.

"He knows he has to run a very good campaign," said Tazewell County Republican chairwoman Demetra Demonte.

Schock's political history is well known by now for its uniqueness. He won a write-in campaign for Peoria school board at age 19 and ascended to become a state lawmaker at age 23, unseating a Democratic incumbent. If elected, he'd become the youngest member of Congress.

On the issues, Schock would continue the tax cuts President Bush implemented in an effort to create jobs. He supported the Congressional bank bailout but would not support a new economic stimulus similar to the one earlier this year.

Schock supported the surge in Iraq and argues against a timeline for a withdrawal of troops from the country.

He's had to dodge the notary and Taiwan issues. And he's spoken out about Callahan's campaign ads, saying they've been overly negative.

"That's not the type of candidate I am," Schock said at a recent news conference to defend himself from one of the ads. "That's not the type of campaign I'm choosing to run."

Both Schock and Callahan have spent a lot of time over the course of the campaign traveling the large, 20-county district that includes Logan County, parts of Decatur and Macon County, as well as parts of Tazewell and Woodford counties.

When it comes to appearances around the district, Schafer has been no stranger. He was the first to call for both candidates to release their tax returns.

He juggles campaigning with two jobs, as a Peoria museum executive and a part-time Bradley University astronomy instructor. Schafer compared his place in the race to a horse not favored to win.

If it's behind, he said, "every horse runs as hard as it can."

mike.riopell@lee.net|789-0865