ROCKFORD (WIFR) -- Two months from today Dave Syverson will look to return to Springfield by holding on to the 34th district Senate seat that he's held since 1993. But today the only active Senator who's served in Springfield longer came to Rockford in support of Syverson's opponent.

Senate President John Cullerton came to Cliffbreakers today to headline a fundraiser for 34th District Democratic Candidate Marla Wilson. Wilson is seeking her first political office and she's going against an incumbent who's never received less than 55 percent of the vote, yet Cullerton says he believes that a Wilson victory is anything but a pipe dream

"This is the highest unemployment rate 18 percent, which is how many years Dave Syverson has been here in Rockford," said Cullerton. "We intend to make this a top priority for Senate Democrats to pick up this seat. It's probably one of the top seats that we have a chance of picking up. The polling looks very good for us so we think we have a very good chance, so that's why i'm here."

Meantime Syverson received legislative excellence awards today from the Tooling and Manufacturing Association, and the Illinois Manufacturing Extention Centers, as well as an endorsement from the Northwestern Illinois Building and Construction Trades Council.

"The best way to stimulate economy is to make something or build something," said Syverson. "You can't build an economy on giving out one time tax gimmicks. You can't build it by just expanding the service industry. I'm going to continue to work to bring good,high paying jobs to this area because that's how we get out of this economic mess we're in."

Syverson and Wilson are actually battling for just a 2-year term instead of the regular 4-year Senate term.. That's because of the 2010 census which will affect district boundries.