Melissa Mouritsen is an associate professor of political science at the College of DuPage and the coeditor of Twenty-First Century Chicago. Kent D. Redfield is emeritus professor of political science at University of Illinois Springfield and the author of Money Counts: How Dollars Dominate Illinois Politics and What We Can Do About It. James D. Nowlan writes the newspaper column “Understanding Illinois” for the Illinois Press Association. He is the author of Politics, the Starter Kit: How to Succeed in Politics and Government.