An Indiana Senator who’s likely to be a 2008 presidential candidate stopped by the Iowa State Fair this (Monday) morning. Besides the steady stream of potential presidential candidates wandering the faigrounds in Des Moines, Senator Evan Bayh found another major distinction between the Iowa State Fair and Indiana’s State Fair.
“Frankly, it feels a lot like home…This just looks like a great family place to come,” Bayh said. “I did notice one difference, though, that may make many Hoosiers jealous. I see you serve beer at your fair and we don’t so perhaps we can learn a little bit from you here in Iowa about how to run our fair and make it even more attractive to the people of our state.”
Bayh, a Democrat, used his stop at the fair to highlight his record on a topic of interest to many Iowans — the effort to promote corn-based ethanol. Bayh bragged about a bill he co-sponsored that would provide tax incentives for the production and distribution of ethanol and soybean-based biodiesel. “So I’ve not only talked about this issue, I’m doing something about it,” Bayh said. “One of the other things that Americans are yearning for…is who can bring us together and really move us forward. We brought Republicans and Democrats together…We can do this as a country. We can do this as a state, but it does take a governor and a president who makes it a priority, who brings people together and does more than just talk about it.”
Bayh, who served as governor of Indiana before being elected to the U.S. Senate, argues consumers should get a tax break, too, if they buy a so-called flexible fuel vehicle that can burn the higher concentration of ethanol — E85. “We can produce America’s fuel right here in the Midwest, in Iowa and Indiana, relying on our farmers rather than Middle Eastern shieks,” Bayh said. “That’s good for our nation’s security.”
Bayh strolled around the fairgrounds today (Monday) with Chet Culver, the Democratic candidate for governor.