It was the most Collinsville of rituals — the competition to stuff bags of roots at the annual "Horseradish Festival." (Somebody figured out years ago the community of 22,000 ought to capitalize on its self-proclaimed position as horseradish-growing capital of the world.) The bagging contest was pretty big stuff, aside from the parade, of course, with its helium-filled giant horseradish balloon.

Jay Hoffman won easily, by the way, delivering on what some said was a favored status owing to his own rural roots (if you pardon the pun). John Shimkus made a valiant effort, worthy of his West Point training.

Hoffman and Shimkus also are rivals in something that is not a Collinsville ritual: the election for the 20th District congressional seat. The St. Louis surburb, whose former mayor liked to brag that its name was Collinsville when Chicago was still called Fort Dearborn, has never delivered one of its own to Washington.

But even if these two guys pledge allegiance to the purple and white of the high school Kahoks, they don't agree on a lot of other things. What we have here in Abraham Lincoln's old congressional district is a scaled-down version of the Dick Durbin-Al Salvi U.S. Senate race that's rocking Illinois.

Hoffman is, in fact, Durbin's hand-picked guy to carry on in a district that Democrat Durbin first won in 1982. That district nurtured Durbin until his own mentor, Paul Simon, chose him to fill the void left by Simon's impending retirement from the Senate.

That doesn't make Hoffman and Durbin copies. For example, Hoffman has held on to his stand against abortion long past the time Durbin decided it's impractical to outlaw it. And in three terms in the Illinois House, Hoffman may fairly be characterized as less liberal than Durbin.

At 34, he has long been on a political track. With a law degree in hand, he became an assistant prosecutor under St. Clair County State's Attorney John Baricevic, a Democratic Party power who is now chairman of the county board. Hoffman later defeated state Rep. Ron Stephens, a Troy Republican, in a fierce fight in 1990. Hoffman held his seat through two more elections while the Republicans used their upper hand in redistricting to build a separate niche for the re-election of Stephens two years later.

It is Shimkus who makes the race a little unusual: a Republican based in a community where the letters "GOP" used to qualify as obscene graffiti. The town's politics haven't changed much, but former civics teacher Shimkus' careful ascent from part-time township trustee to county treasurer has cushioned voters from the shock.

He got elected treasurer on a fluke in 1990 when voters lashed back at a Democratic incumbent. But Shimkus managed re-election in 1994, having failed in 1992 to knock off Durbin.

Shimkus follows many of the precepts of Al Salvi (both are pro-life, for example, strongly favor the right to bear firearms and back Republican-fueled social reforms). Shimkus says he is proud to share the ballot with Salvi.

Handicapping the contest is tough. Collinsville is at the southern end of a large district that reaches to Springfield, which is Durbin's home. The area is about evenly split politically, with a Democratic concentration in Madison County on the south, and a Republican predominance toward Sangamon County on the north.

Hoffman's party gives him a strong advantage in populous Madison County, home to about a quarter of the district's voters. But Shimkus' re-election as treasurer two years ago showed he has plenty of friends there too, even among Democrats.

As the district winds its way up to southern Sangamon County, Shimkus picks up some Republican label advantage. He also may find benefit in residual name recognition from his 1992 contest against Durbin.

Except for two Madison County townships that are included in Hoffman's 112th House District, Hoffman has never before been on any ballot in the 20th Congressional District.

Both are nice guys with stated intentions to keep their debates way above mud level. But they're also both after a high-profile plum that their parties want desperately enough to kick in some hard cash for harvest time. Horseradish stuffing aside, neither guy can claim to have this one in the bag.

Patrick E. Gauen covers Illinois politics for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Illinois Issues June 1996 ¦ 45