Today it was Hillary Clinton, but you can count on it: More presidential candidates will be weighing in on the sorry state of the mortgage markets. The math tells the story. Two point two million people are expected to default on their loans in the coming year. They live in states like California, Florida, Ohio, and Nevada. If you haven't realized by now that these are key primary states, you haven't been watching the endless series of candidate debates. Clinton today highlighted many of the issues that candidates will likely address: prepayment penalties, mortgage broker licensing, and rescue funds. I'd be surprised if Republicans don't respond with targeted tax breaks and a promise of tough investigations of mortgage lending practices.

For investors, the issue to watch is what happens with servicing companies. Most lenders immediately sell off their loans to other companies. Eventually they are sliced and diced up into financial instruments that are sold off to investors. Those investors are paid from the pooled interest on the underlying loans. When a borrower wants to renegotiate the terms of his or her loan, it's the servicing company for the pool that might be able to make the deal. But the investors who have bought into the pool might balk when they see their interest payments at risk. You can see how difficult this process could be. This is the pressure point analysts are watching and they expect some politicians will begin to call on service companies to modify terms, even if Wall Street howls.