The lazy, hazy days of summer are about to give way to a frenetic presidential campaign season for the most powerful political position in the world. Lost in all the hype surrounding this national political drama are hundreds of barely watched and little noticed campaigns for legislative seats in statehouses across the U.S.

These campaigns will be waged against a backdrop of a sluggish economy. The latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show national unemployment flatlining at around 8 percent. Economic growth, indicated by the Gross Domestic Product and reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, is hovering around 2 percent.

The added uncertainty of the global economy, tepid returns in the investment markets and a hardening Workers' Compensation insurance market are causing business leaders and citizens to look for legislative candidates who have the potential to re-energize their local economies by attracting jobs and lowering the cost of doing business. The men and women battling it out on doorsteps, at local cafés and town meetings will have a lot to say about how improvements should be made in their state's business climate. These changes include reforms to Workers' Comp laws that deal with how medical treatment and benefits are delivered to injured workers and the costs that are ultimately passed on to local businesses.