Where suddenly a previously ignored issue becomes ISSUE #! or much more important than it was due to outside unforseen events.. like the Korea issue is suddenly on everyone's mind on the west coast since the Koreans are sighted suntanning on the beaches, or something... or suddenly the ANWR issue is #1 in NW states since even MORE oil was discovered under there, or- the ECONOMY suddenly heats up, or ABORTION RIGHTS get to the forfront of a bunch of NE states since a boy was found pregnent with an alien baby he claims is not his!
You get the idea... I think these owuld add to tension a little bit and bring the rarer issues up once in awhile.
This could be set to happen NEVER, RARE (0-2), or COMMONLY (2-4) times in a game say.