It’s a busy week for President Obama — just one day after his State of the Union address, he and the vice president will high-tail it to a town hall meeting in Tampa to announce federal grants for high speed rail projects in 13 major corridors. The total pot is $8 billion, put aside specifically for high-speed trains and other passenger rail projects as part of the $787 billion stimulus bill. Besides the lucky 13 receiving grants, a White House official said several smaller awards will be made for improvements to existing rail lines. In total, 31 states will receive funds.

Unfortunately, it’ll cost a lot more than a few billion to complete any high speed rail project, let alone multiple ones across the country. And so states have been scrambling to nab as much of that precious federal money as possible — the Federal Railroad Administration said it received a total of 45 applications requesting $50 billion in aid. The trick has been prioritizing which states/regions deserve funding, and how much.

So who are the biggest contenders to walk out with big grants tomorrow? Here’s a quick list, ranked by likelihood of their nabbing funding:

1) FLORIDA

The location of the president’s speech can only be read as a surefire tip-off: The Tampa-Orlando-Miami line will get a federal check in the mail. You may recall that Ray Lahood even stepped in to give the state’s fund-winning effort a jolt in October, when he made a speech castigating state lawmakers for failing to secure money for a proposed Orlando-area link and an existing South Florida commuter rail system that was short of cash when the state’s 2010 budget passed.

2) CALIFORNIA

The state’s impressive proposal for an 800-mile-long rail line from Sacramento to San Diego will need money. Lots of money. Far more than $8 billion. The government will give it something — but whether the cash-strapped Golden State can get it together to complete the job is another matter entirely. Still, the public support for the project so far has certainly been encouraging.

3) ILLINOIS

There’s been plenty of anticipation and planning for the proposed Chicago-Milwaukee-St. Louis route, and the Midwest High Speed Rail Association has been hard at work submitting a thorough plan. And Joseph Szabo, Obama’s railroad czar, dropped a heavy hint the other day, praising the region’s “comprehensive plan for high-speed passenger rail service” during a conference in Chicago.

4) NEW YORK

It has the passengers, and it has the demand. The Northeast Corridor (which includes Boston and D.C.) is crying out for a HSR line. There’s the rest of New York, including Albany and other cities in the western and norther part of the state, which have been isolated for years — and some of them have been suffering through delayed service for decades. In some areas, New York State has been quietly begging for rail improvements for years — in part because it would facilitate New York City commutes, and let businesses move to cheaper parts of the state.

Most Likely to Get the Federal Shaft: TEXAS

Sorry, Lone Star State — the chances are good you’ll walk away without a cent. At a speech in Austin earlier this month, a top federal rail administrator charged with managing the distribution of the new grants said your application lacks “a central vision,” and  the kind of political support from the governor and the Legislature that would help it compete against other states gunning for HSR cash.