The Pew Charitable Trusts

This year may be the quiet before the surge of 36 gubernatorial races in 2010, but the results of the few statewide elections in November could preview what's to come.

Budget cuts could undermine the progress states have made to respond to public health emergencies and natural disasters, such as the recent wildfires in California and outbreaks of Salmonella on tainted vegetables that sickened more than 1, 440 people in 43 states, says a new report released Dec. 9.

In two weeks, the American voting system will be stressed as never before with record voter registration and expected large turnouts. But the greatest pressure will fall on 11 battleground states whose stars are aligned for an election debacle: tight races coupled with radical changes in their voting systems.

Aug. 29, 2008, 9:00 a.m. EDT Q. What serious issue in your state would you like the next president to address? Wyoming on health careHealth care is number one still. We still have a lot of people who don't have adequate health care in this nation. Someone has to do something…The cost and price of energy, although helping our state tremendously as far as giving us surpluses, but still causing a lot of heartache for the people of Wyoming. So those are the two issues: energy costs and health care. (As president, Barack Obama) will push forward some kind of national health care… I think we are going to see some additional help with health care dollars and getting people covered. -Wyoming delegate, State Sen. John Hastert, 50, of Green River, interviewed by Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org   Virginia on veterans' assistanceI served one year in Vietnam and three years in the military and then went to school on the GI Bill after that. The veterans from the war in Iraq are coming home and have no place to go …I'm thinking about these GIs now, after 12 months, ready to come home and then (their tour) is extended for another six months. You don't know how much pressure that is on a young GI. I was 19 in Vietnam and most of the vets in the volunteer Army are between 18 and 25 years old. They may say they love it ….but the reason they go in the first place is because they are looking for a better life for themselves. They are not going to war because they want to kill and maim someone else, and they don't want to be killed or maimed themselves. When they get out of there, we don't take care of them. -Virginia delegate Willie L. Brown, 62, of Chesapeake, Army veteran, interviewed by Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org AFTER THE JUMP: Audio from Stateline.org's interviews with Hastert and Brown Comments