Ethanol No Longer the Single Issue in Iowa

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-elect/2006/jun/05/060501216.html

Turns out, Iowa politics isn't as corny as you thought.

For years, conventional wisdom was that presidential candidates could not survive the first-in-the-nation caucuses in Iowa unless they supported subsidies for the corn-based ethanol fuel. But strategists say Iowa no longer is a single-issue state - if it ever was. At least one presidential hopeful intends to test the premise.

"Ethanol is very important, but Iowans are more sophisticated than that," said a former Iowa Republican chairman, Michael Mahaffey. "I think ethanol could be a bright part of Iowa's future, but it's only a part. I don't think there's going to be some kind of litmus test when it comes to presidential candidates."

Republican Sen. John McCain, an early front-runner in the 2008 sweepstakes, told Iowa audiences recently that he is opposed to all farm subsidies, including special deals for ethanol production.

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about $2.50 a gallon. If all the costs to find and secure oil fields (part of the defense budget), drill for, transport and refine oil were recovered in the price of gas (rather than some of it being paid through our taxes) we'd be paying over 5.00 a gallon for gas.

Of course, that doesn't cover the value of lives lost securing those oil fields.