It’s something the governor and advocates from across the political spectrum have been worried about as well.

The states received about $575 billion dollars in federal aid in 2011, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. And the budget cuts that would take effect without a deal might mean about $7.5 billion in cuts to schools, environmental and other programs. But federal funds that go to Medicaid are not among those would automatically be cut.

And for Republican Gov. John Kasich, a worst case scenario is one that he thinks will be seen by some lawmakers as a simple one.

If you start slashing Medicaid in order to just get a magic number, there are two things that could potentially happen. One is they blow a hole in your state budget. And secondly, there’s a lot of poor people that could get hurt. And I don’t like either of those.

Medicaid is a huge chunk of the Ohio budget – about a third. Greg Lawson with the conservative Buckeye Institute says Kasich is right to worry, but that he shouldn’t stop with just being concerned about Medicaid. For instance, a fiscal cliff deal might involve funds to help low-income people and those who need work or perhaps even transportation money.

“There’s a whole bunch of things that you just don’t know what’s going to happen, so you have to be concerned about it. And when you’re in the process of crafting this massive monster here in Ohio, which is billions upon billions of dollars, and then to find out at the last minute before you have to introduce the budget that maybe you lost several hundred million dollars, that’s not going to be a joke,” Lawson says.

On the other side of the political fence is Jon Honeck with the liberal leaning Center for Community Solutions. Honeck says he doubts the Obama administration will propose cuts in Medicaid, but the states can’t expect to emerge from the fiscal cliff debate unscathed.

When the federal government is borrowing almost 40 cents on every dollar, I’ve got to believe that over time the folks in DC are going to be looking at all the possible alternatives, and they’re going to have come up with some revenue and they’re going to have to trim some programs.

But Honeck hopes that lawmakers will recognize that there are still people recovering from the recession and looking for work or a better job. And Kasich cautions that cuts in Medicaid could bring more pain to those populations if the state has to adjust to those cuts.

“As they work to avoid the fiscal cliff, they look at a Medicaid number that doesn’t really affect them, and they just cut it – pass it on to us. It’s just an easy thing for – it’s just a bookkeeping entry. Unfortunately can be – let me just not say that all of them would see it that way.

“But it’s just – you know, hey, we just saved $50 billion. But what was the effect of it is what I get concerned about.”

Vice President Joe Biden has been charged with talking to governors about their concerns about their budgets and the fiscal cliff, and Kasich says he’s talked to him as well as to Republicans in the Ohio Congressional delegation.

Is it a ‘game of skill’ or a ‘game of chance?’ State law allows machines whose outcomes are based on skill to operate legally under certain provisions. But if the outcome is based on chance, the attorney general defines it as a slot machine, and therefore illegal. The debate is making some Ohioans angry.

Attorney General Marc Dann’s emergency ruling was designed to shut down what he believed to be illegal machines. But the ruling thus far has only had limited effect. Court rulings have allowed some games like Nudge Master to continue.

30 miles southwest of Columbus at a nearly deserted outlet mall on Interstate 71, an arcade called Lucky You is open and doing a respectable amount of business for a Tuesday morning. No smoking, no alcohol and no one under the age of 21 is allowed. The client le appears to older – people in their 50s and 60s. The owner declined to be interviewed on advice of his attorney. But at a public hearing Monday night in nearby Washington Court House, Talmadge Long defended his arcade.

“There’s a difference between gambling and skill,” Long said. “It is a fine line; I’ll be the first one to tell you. I do honestly have skilled games. I am the Chuck E. Cheese for adults.”

Long was among some 30 people who spoke at the forum – the last of four statewide public meetings held by the attorney general’s office. Members of the Marc Dann’s staff listened as people testified for and against the gaming machines. Don Bock spoke first.

“It nearly destroyed my life a number of years ago,” Bock said. “I gave up an insurance career to devote nine years to gambling. And it is extremely addictive and it is wrong. It will take clothes off the back of children, food off the table, and cause rent to go unpaid.”

Ray Vance, a local minister, says he visited the Lucky You before attending Monday night’s meeting. He said gambling was morally wrong and driven by greed, and was destructive to the family.

“Authorities in gambling jurisdictions report dramatic increases in divorce, suicide, bankruptcy, domestic violence related to gambling,” Vance said. “Research shows that children of gambling addicts experience lower levels of mental health and physical well being.”

The majority of speakers, however, said they favored the machines, though it was clear their opinions were formed by their experience at the Lucky You. Mary Noble says she and other elderly people sometimes cannot make the trip to the Argosy casino near Cincinnati. Connie Allen compared the Lucky You to a social club. Some speakers such as Bob Dawes were angry with the Strickland administration.

“The attorney general is to enact laws that are passed by our representatives not create laws on his own,” Dawes said. “The governor’s job is to foresee and run the state of Ohio. Both of them need to back off; back out of the church a bit, leave the church in the church and the laws where they should be.”

The controversy over games of skill versus chance was not lost on Bob Pittser who wondered about the name of the Jeffersonville arcade.

The contradiction is this: If it’s a skilled facility, the name “Lucky You” and skill? Don’t know, just struck me funny,” Pittser said.

With the beginning of the legislative session approaching, legislative leaders have promised to take up the matter quickly.

Clippers officials celebrated their new affiliation with the Washington Nationals at an afternoon press conference. According to Clippers President Ken Schnake, the team considered offers from several major league clubs.

“If there is one partnership out of the three that has the potential to go longer than two years,” says Schnake, “I think it’s this one with these people and this is the perfect time right now.”

The short length of the deal may position the Clippers for a future agreement with the Cleveland Indians or Cincinnati Reds. The Indians and Reds both have Triple-A agreements that expire after the 2008 season. The agreement however does not affect plans for the new Huntington Park stadium.

“The affiliation has no bearing on the stadium, that’s an independent project, we have a franchise, there will always be a Columbus Clippers team here. The new stadium is just an added bonus that comes down the road in a couple of years.”

Columbus began looking for a new major-league partner when its 28-year affiliation with the New York Yankees came to an end.