The Big Interview ­- Philip Fischer

There's no doubt that municipal bonds are the wallflowers of fixed-income markets. Poorly understood, not as sexy as corporate bonds, they nevertheless make safe bets because - mostly - they're issued by stable and wealthy US state and local governments. In recent months, however, as investor jitters affect almost every financial sector, munis have had their turn in the spotlight.

In fact, munis experienced their worst monthly decline on record in February, dropping 4.89%. In March, triple-A