For too long state and national election cycles have overlooked people who suffer from the failures of our mental health system. Now there is hope that the nation's preoccupation with a broken health care system will make mental health a priority for that reform agenda.

This appears to be happening in North Carolina, where a growing scandal about wasting $400 million on community services is figuring into the campaigns for governor and lieutenant governor.

The issues -- poor oversight, insufficient services, mismanagement -- which are now becoming a political embarrassment in North Carolina are not exclusive to that state. They should be addressed by every candidate in all 50 where programs are planned, executed and evaluated. When considering the numbers of people affected by a mental illness, no politician should imagine ignoring the power of this voting bloc.

But credit must be given to a muscular press for keeping these issues front and center. Local politicians would not be addressing the North Carolina crisis without the work of the News and Observer which broke the initial the story in February, and has been tracking it since.

A growing media attention, and rewards, were apparent at last week's meeting of the Association of Health Care Journalists where three of the award-winning stories addressed how mental illness affects families, how systems need rebuilding and oversight.

Hats off to the three, and to all reporters who have been reporting about deplorable conditions in local jails, such as the series in the Richmond Times-Dispatchabout Richmond, Va., which forced a response from local politicians. In Milwaukee, housing needs are now on the minds of elected officials, and those running for office, as a result of persistent reporting of life-threatening, substandard conditions. And in Del., as in Georgia, press exposure of the state hospital system brought federal investigators to the doors.

It is nice to see mental health reporting coming out of the back wards.