Taking Back the House in Illinois?

Tammy Duckworth walks with a noticeable limp. You do that when you have two artificial legs. She lost them when her Army combat helicopter was hit by enemy fire. Now Duckworth is in a war of a different kind: politics. "We need to do something different in Iraq," she said. Duckworth's been personally recruited by Rahm Emanuel who heads up the Democratic effort to take back the House. He thinks her compelling story and her stands on issues can win out in Illinois's sixth district. Political experts say it may be a winning strategy. "The way to win races is to get strong candidates, and the way to get strong candidates is not to wait for them to come to you, but to go out and find them," said Professor Amy E. Black of Wheaton College. But as a Democrat, Duckworth will be swimming upstream. Republicans outnumber Democrats 46-26 in the district. That's good news for Duckworth's challenger, Republican Peter Roskam. He's banking on his conservative pro-family values matching those of voters in the district. "I think he hold those values highly. It's part of what he's looking to preserve," said one voter. But there's good news for Duckworth. Even with a Republican tilt, the district is changing. "The Illinois sixth district.is one of these districts that we like to call red turning purple to use the blue and red metaphor," said Black. So what used to be mostly upper middle class white is now more diverse. There's now triple the number of Hispanics, double the number of African-Americans. Roskam even has campaign signs in Korean. It has translated into more independent voters here. Twenty-eight percent are Independent, a voting block Duckworth needs to win. But it is the war that has taken center stage here. Media from all over the world, including Japan have come here to cover the race. "We see this race as the key race in the whole Midterm election," said Nami Inoue of the Tokyo Broadcasting Service. Poll after poll shows the Iraq war as the number one issue here. And Duckworth is tapping into that anger. She said, "I do bring to this race a unique voice. I can ask questions about Iraq that unless you've served on the ground there you can't ask. I want to know why I had steak and lobster every Sunday night but didn't have armor?" "I think she's the best chance right here to end the war in Iraq," said another voter. Duckworth told us although that she's been mischaracterized as an anti-war candidate, she's not against war- just the Iraq war. She approved of military action in Afghanistan. "Those people attacked us on our sovereign soil. I want the full might and fury of the United States military to come reigning down on Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda," said Duckworth. But when it comes to Iraq, Duckworth has talked about withdrawing troops. Roskam told CBN News she has it wrong. "It is a difficult issue and a difficult quandary that we're in Iraq but this is not a district that says leave by April 1 for example," said Republican candidate Pete Roskam. Roskam's challenge will be to keep the focus away from Iraq. "I think it's a part of the conversation, but it's not the only part of the conversation," said Roskam. Instead, he wants to talk about the GOP bread and butter issues. "My opponent has made it very clear that she's prepared to raise taxes," said Roskam. And the national Democratic Party has made it very clear that this is a race they want to win desperately. Roskam said, "The Democrats would love nothing more than to put this in their win column."