It has been 27 years, but Belen Jesuit Prep School teacher Pat Collins still remembers a 17-year-old Joe Garcia sitting in his 11th-grade government class full of questions.

And answers.

Collins affectionately remembers the curly-headed, husky-voiced Garcia as a ''know-it-all'' with his hand always in the air, a student who took Collins' class more seriously than most.

''Joe had a zeal for asking penetrating questions and challenging long-established beliefs,'' Collins said during a recent rally for his former student. Today, the Miami-born son of Cuban refugees wants to take that attitude to Washington as the representative of the 25th Congressional District. But first he must unseat Republican Mario Diaz-Balart.

In one of the most competitive South Florida races this fall, Garcia is giving Diaz-Balart the strongest challenge he has faced in his 20-year political career. A recent poll by WSCV-Telemundo 51 shows the two in a virtual tie.

This is Garcia's second attempt at public office; in 1993, at 29, he made it to a runoff for a new Miami-Dade Commission seat.

The race was close and also controversial, with the head of the then-powerful Cuban American National Foundation, Jorge Mas Canosa, directing thousands of dollars into several races, including Garcia's. He eventually lost by 267 votes to Miguel Diaz de la Portilla.

Now 45, Garcia faces just as tight a contest against his latest opponent. One setback: The Diaz-Balart family is the closest thing to a political dynasty in Miami's exile community.

But Garcia has a varied political résumé and a lot of connections. He served as chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, became the first Hispanic chairman of the Florida Public Service Commission and was executive director of CANF.

He's also a Democrat in a town where Cuban-American politicians are usually Republicans and U.S. relations with Cuba often frame a candidate's election bid.

Yet Garcia seldom mentions Cuba at his public appearances. ''I'm running for the 25th Congressional District in South Florida, where people are concerned about their jobs, the economy and taxes,'' Garcia said.

But Cuba caused a stir in Garcia's campaign in April, when Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who has pushed for diplomatic relations with Cuba, was a ''special guest'' at a Garcia fundraiser.

Garcia, unbowed by criticism from some exile factions, kept Rangel on the guest list, saying he wants to cultivate relations with members of Congress from all sides of any issue.

`OTHER ISSUES'

Lazaro Izada became a precinct volunteer in the Garcia campaign for just that reason: ``I'm a 42-year-old Cuban-American. I care about Cuba, but there are other issues that are more important to me.''

Garcia's well-financed campaign -- he had collected more than $1 million as of August, according to the latest campaign reports -- paints his opponent as stuck on Cuba, a Washington insider asleep at the wheel when red flags went up about South Florida's housing bubble.

''Who didn't see this coming?'' Garcia asked. ''You don't have to have a college degree,'' he said, a jab at his opponent, who didn't complete college.

Diaz-Balart's campaign, citing a 2001 internal Enron memo, has tried to saddle Garcia with the nickname ''Enron Joe'' in ads that suggest Garcia cozied up to Ken Lay, the head of the energy giant, for a job with the Bush administration.

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