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Schock first made a name for himself by winning a spot on the Peoria Public Schools District 150 board. He was a 19-year-old write-in candidate in 2001, after originally being thrown off the ballot. In a highly organized campaign, Schock says he knocked on 13,000 doors and beat the incumbent by 2,000 votes. He was later elected school board president at age 23. Mary Spangler, a former colleague of Schock’s and current board member, admits she originally opposed his presence on the board. “I actually wrote into the newspaper against him. I was rallying Peoria. We had to have more people interested in this position who aren’t this age. It was an important position. I had no idea how mature he was. My joke was, I had no idea he was 45,” she says. Spangler sees Schock’s cross-party appeal in the Peoria area, admitting that she knows many Democrats who support him. Disagreements on issues have not prevented her from recognizing his ability to be productive in Springfield. “With Aaron, I see a politician who is about getting things done, not just using rhetoric.” Whether Schock’s record in Springfield is one of getting things done is not entirely clear. Few of Schock’s measures made it through the Illinois General Assembly, which is controlled by the opposite party. Schock sponsored 22 pieces of legislation in the past two years. Of those, five became law, including one that set eligibility guidelines for programs for the disabled, another that allows cameras in school buses and a law that allows autistic patients to be eligible for Medicaid services. Schock also sponsored bills on a variety of issues affecting people in his district, including reforms to No Child Left Behind, offering higher education assistance to single parents and a prescription drug price-finder. The measures he’s advanced primarily focus on local concerns or policies that don’t require a lot of heavy debate. “All were innovative approaches to addressing social needs,” he says. Whether he’s successful in passing laws as a member of the minority party is important, in particular, because Republicans will continue to be the minority in Congress after the November election, according to Kent Redfield, professor of political studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield. Redfield also says Schock’s track record in the 92nd District with traditionally Democratic constituencies gives him credibility when he talks about bipartisanship. Black, the Danville Republican, says Schock doesn’t view the world in ideological terms, a trait that he believes will help a freshman in Congress. “He doesn’t regard the center of the aisle as a Berlin Wall. He’s focused on results.” Schock may be in for a rude awakening, however, if he makes it to Washington, where he may be frustrated by the slow pace of change. “When you’re one of 435, it’s hard to shake things up,” Black says. Shaking things up is exactly what has got Schock this far. Dennis, admittedly not a big Schock supporter, says Schock’s rise to rock-star status is “a combination of good luck and hard work.” However, he also praises Schock’s knack for connecting with voters. “No one can out-campaign and out-schmooze Aaron Schock because he listens to people. Even if he doesn’t agree with you, you’re going to come away being glad he listened.” Good luck can’t fully explain Schock’s success in politics, though. Ricca Slone was the incumbent whom Schock, then 23, defeated in an upset race for state representative in 2004. “As a candidate, I think he’s a natural,” Slone says. “He’s on the order of Barack Obama.” She adds that campaigning against his boyish appeal made her feel as though she was on a job interview while Schock was asking voters for a date. Schock captured the district by fewer than 300 votes in 2004, even though Slone raised $200,000 more than he did and had previously run unopposed for four terms, never winning less than 70 percent of the votes in a general election. Schock’s campaign benefited by more than $400,000 from House Minority Leader Tom Cross and other fellow Republicans. Despite the hard-fought race, Schock and Slone both say the campaign generally was positive. Schock says his personal philosophy on campaigning is not to go negative, but to focus on his own message and the issues. “I’ve never run a campaign against my opponent.” Evidence suggests that Schock goes beyond the ritual niceties of politics to connect with fellow legislators. Lobbyist and former Republican state representative Tom Ryder describes Schock’s interaction with the late Democratic Rep. Louvana Jones of Chicago in 2004. Ryder says Jones had supported Schock’s opponent and had campaigned hard against him. But shortly after defeating her candidate, Schock approached Jones on the House floor. “She was so happy at the demeanor and the manner in which he presented himself, very respectfully. She was delighted,” Ryder says. Schock and Jones worked closely on a community college housing bill that session. Despite having a solidly conservative philosophy and voting record on abortion, gun rights, gay marriage and other bread-and-butter conservative issues, Schock won 59 percent of the vote in the 92nd House District in 2006. The election, like his previous efforts, was a testament to his ability as a campaigner, one of his advantages over Callahan in this year’s election. John Morris, one of Schock’s opponents in the recent primary for the 18th Congressional District, remembers meeting Schock during his campaign for school board seven years ago. “This is a personality that has been created by our times. But this is also someone with extreme discipline. He’s a machine.”
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