Democrat Buys Ronald Reagan Birthplace

TAMPICO, Ill. - For 27 years, this village's slight fame as Ronald Reagan's birthplace has been sustained by two local couples, the Nicelys and the McElhineys. Now, with the Nicelys dead and the McElhineys ailing, keeping Tampico's name on the map has fallen to an unlikely outsider, a big-time lawyer from Chicago - a Democrat, no less. The Birthplace draws an average of 15 visitors a day and fewer than 4,000 a year. In Dixon, the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home draws about 13,000 visitors a year.