Gulf state prepared with US president dropping round (7)
I believe the answer is:
alabama
'gulf state' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'with us president dropping round' is the wordplay.
'with us' becomes 'ala' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'president' becomes 'obama' (Barack Obama).
'dropping' is a deletion indicator.
'round' becomes 'o' (round can mean a round object).
'obama' with 'o' taken out is 'bama'.
'ala'+'bama'='ALABAMA'
'prepared' acts as a link.
This may not be right. It may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alabama that I've seen before include "US state on the Gulf of Mexico" , "State of SE USA" , "US state in the cotton belt" , "Somewhere in US" , "Southern American state" .)