JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi has long been one of the sickest and poorest states in America, with some of the highest rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease and more than 1 in 7 residents without insurance. And so you might think Mississippi would jump at the prospect of billions of federal dollars to expand Medicaid.

2. Machinists Reach Tentative Deal With Boeing - Thursday, December 01, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – A contentious labor dispute between the government and Boeing Co. that spawned a national political fight likely will be settled after the company and the Machinists union announced Wednesday they'd reached a tentative deal on a new four-year collective bargaining agreement.

3. State Issues Can be Tricky for Presidential Field - Friday, October 28, 2011

CINCINNATI (AP) — Mitt Romney gingerly distanced himself from a labor issue on the Ohio ballot one day. The next, he embraced the initiative "110 percent."

The equivocation not only highlighted his record of shifting positions but also underscored the local political minefields national candidates often confront in their state-by-state path to the presidency.

4. GOP Governors: Deep Budget Cuts are Coming - Friday, November 19, 2010

SAN DIEGO (AP) – Incoming Republican governors from Pennsylvania to New Mexico are vowing to keep campaign promises to slice already cut-to-the-bone budgets and balance them without raising taxes.

5. Year of the Political Woman Redux? Looks That Way - Thursday, June 10, 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's looking like a new "year of the woman" in politics.

Eighteen years after a few glass ceilings were broken, hundreds of female candidates have set their sights on Congress, governorships and state legislatures, and a significant number racked up big wins in Tuesday's primaries. Republican women, in particular, served notice to the old boys of the party.