NEWS INDEX 2000 October

The Road to the White House
Expert sources at the University of Illinois for the November elections

Jeff Unger, News Bureau
(217) 333-1085;j-unger@uiuc.edu

10/16/2000

Anti-Trust and Regulation
Jan K. Brueckner, professor of economics
office: (217) 333-4557 home: (217) 337-6806
e-mail: jbrueckn@uiuc.edu
Airline alliances, under question by regulators in the United States and Europe, lower fares on interline flights.

Campaigns and Voting Patterns
Peter Nardulli, professor of political science
office: (217) 333-3880 home: (217) 398-2405
e-mail: nardulli@staff.cso.uiuc.edu
An expert on historical voting patterns in presidential elections, Nardulli can discuss the historical context of the current campaign.

Congressional Elections
Brian Gaines, professor of political science
office: (217) 333-4367
e-mail: bjgaines@uiuc.edu
Gaines' specialty is incumbency advantage; he has been predicting a very close Bush win for months, and is standing by that call.

Economy
J. Fred Giertz, professor of economics
office: (217) 244-4822 home: (217) 351-9148
e-mail: j-giertz@uiuc.edu
Giertz, who administers the UI Flash Economic Index for Illinois, sees the economy on an even keel as the election approaches.

Education Standards
Lizanne DeStefano, professor of educational psychology
office: (217) 333-8520 home: (217) 359-9196
e-mail: destefan@staff.uiuc.edu

Nona Prestine, professor of educational organization and leadership
office: (217) 333-2155 home: (217) 352-0566
e-mail: prestine@staff.uiuc.edu

DeStefano and Prestine are involved in a four-year study evaluating the implementation of the Illinois Learning Standards in the state's schools.

Income Taxes
Richard L. Kaplan, professor of law
office: (217) 333-2499 home: (217) 359-1819
e-mail: r-kaplan@uiuc.edu
Kaplan believes that initiatives proposed by both Gore and Bush will complicate already cumbersome income-tax rules.

Latino Voting
Louis DeSipio, professor of political science
office: (217) 333-4711 home: (217) 337-697
2 e-mail: desipio@uiuc.edu
DeSipio is concerned with outreach by the major candidates to Latino communities; he also is monitoring efforts to expand the Latino vote through mobilization, and the impact of Latinos on close congressional races in California.

National Health Care
Robert F. Rich, professor of law and political science
office: (217) 244-8550 home (217) 384-6868
e-mail: r-rich1@uiuc.edu
Rich believes the debate over prescription drug prices is part of the broader failure by Washington to enact some form of universal health care.

Politics and Communications
Scott Althaus, professor of speech communication
office: (217) 333-8968 home: (217) 359-8776
e-mail: salthaus@uiuc.edu
Althaus' teaching and research focus on the study of political communication; his specialties include the role of political knowledge in the formation of political opinions and vote choices, political advertising strategies and effects, news coverage of campaigns, and voter behavior.

Prescription Drugs
Richard L. Kaplan, professor of law
office: (217) 333-2499 home: (217) 359-1819
e-mail: r-kaplan@uiuc.edu
The real question about Bush's prescription drug plan is not its cost, but whether those with pre-existing medical conditions can get enrolled in such plans.

The Presidency, Policy-making and Public Opinion
Paul Quirk, professor of political science
office: (217) 333-1356, (217) 244-4826; home: (217) 356-2377
e-mail: p-quirk@uiuc.edu, paulq@igpa.uiuc.edu
Primarily a student of national government, Quirk has published widely on the presidency, Congress, policy-making processes and public opinion.

Welfare Reform
Steve Anderson, professor of social work
office: (217) 244-5242 home: (217) 351-4912
e-mail: sandersn@staff.uiuc.edu

Tony Halter, professor of social work
office: (217) 244-5233 home: (217) 352-2554
e-mail: a-halter@staff.uiuc.edu

Anderson and Halter have studied the results of 1996 federal welfare reform in Illinois, showing mixed results; they worked together on a recently published study funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.