Over a dozen potential presidential candidates have poured into Iowa this month and most made a point to mention their support of ethanol and the state’s other energy projects. Republican Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the U.S. House, told a crowd at the State Fair that ethanol’s time has arrived because the influence of so-called “big oil” has waned in Washington with pump prices at about three-dollars-a-gallon.

“I believe if we could get a consensus on a next-generation biofuels bill that the anger of the country at large is sufficiently great about the price of oil that it would be very hard for politicians to stop it,” Gingrich said. Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, himself a potential Democratic presidential candidate, told the Fair crowd that relying on petroleum weakens the U.S. economically and forces the country to rely on foreign interests that control the world oil supply.

“We actually have to encourage ordinary Americans to understand the significance and the importance of it to their ordinary lives, not just the $3 a gallon price they’re paying at the pump, but what it’s doing to their country,” Vilsack said. “What this really needs to be is an issue of patriotism, building a stronger America and a more secure America.”

Over a dozen potential presidential candidates have poured into Iowa this month and most made a point to mention their support of ethanol and the state’s other energy projects. Republican Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the U.S. House, told a crowd at the State Fair that ethanol’s time has arrived because the influence of so-called “big oil” has waned in Washington with pump prices at about three-dollars-a-gallon.

“I believe if we could get a consensus on a next-generation biofuels bill that the anger of the country at large is sufficiently great about the price of oil that it would be very hard for politicians to stop it,” Gingrich said. Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, himself a potential Democratic presidential candidate, told the Fair crowd that relying on petroleum weakens the U.S. economically and forces the country to rely on foreign interests that control the world oil supply.

“We actually have to encourage ordinary Americans to understand the significance and the importance of it to their ordinary lives, not just the $3 a gallon price they’re paying at the pump, but what it’s doing to their country,” Vilsack said. “What this really needs to be is an issue of patriotism, building a stronger America and a more secure America.”

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a Democrat who served as U.S. Energy Secretary for President Clinton, was in Iowa last week and he made a pitch not only for ethanol, but other “renewable” forms of energy.”It’s not just that we become more energy efficient by using solar, wind, biomass, ethanol,” Richardson said. “It creates jobs — technology jobs, High-wage jobs. They’d be created right here in Iowa.” Richardson declared Iowa the center for renewable energy.

Even Republican John McCain, the Arizona Senator who opposes the federal tax break for ethanol, spoke in favor of the fuel during a speech in Grinnell on August 15th.
“My position on ethanol was (and) is support of ethanol when oil went over $40 a barrel. I do not support subsidies but I support ethanol and I think it is a vital, a vital alternative energy source not only because of our dependency on foreign oil but its greenhouse gas reduction effects,” McCain said.
McCain declared himself a “strong” supporter of ethanol.

“I believe that climate change is real,” McCain said during that mid-August speech in Grinnell. “It is largely a result of human activity which has generated greenhouse gases. Ethanol is a very significant contributor in reducing the emission of greenhouse gases.” McCain’s critics on the ethanol issue say the industry won’t survive without the federal tax break, which he opposes.

Delaware Senator Joe Biden, a 1988 Democratic presidential candidate who’s running again in 2008, spoke about ethanol as well. “How do we free ourselves from the iron grip of the oil oligarchs?” Biden asked. “It affects everything. It affects our economy. It affects our balance of payments. It affects our foreign policy.”
“As long as we are all held hostage to the new weapon in world foreign policy — oil — then we are going to be in difficult problems,” Biden said during an interview with Radio Iowa.