James D. Nowlan is a senior fellow with the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs. He is also the author of "A New Game Plan for Illinois" (Neltnor House, 1989), and a novel, T"he Itinerant: A Heartland Story" (Conversation Press, 2000), and co-author with Samuel K. Gove of" Illinois Politics and Government: The Expanding Metropolitan Frontier" (Nebraska, 1996).