Iowans pick Obama; how important was ethanol?

Ethanol subsidies played a part in Barack Obama's victory in Iowa. While many say that John McCain's opposition to the subsidies hurt the candidate, it appears that it was just one issue that led to Obama's victory in the state. "John McCain used his long opposition to farm subsidies and ethanol incentives to burnish his credentials as a political maverick," writes Philip Brasher of The Des Moines Register. "Republicans say it hurt his campaign in agricultural counties that were key to President Bush's narrow victory in Iowa four years earlier."

Obama supported ethanol subsidies throughout his campaign. That buoyed his support in rural Iowa, where President Bush had been strong in the last election, but it appears to be only part of the reason rural voters chose him. Dennis Goldford, a professor of politics at Drake University, told Brasher, "It's unlikely rural voters went for Obama solely because of his position on ethanol. The economic slowdown was a major issue, and McCain had largely ignored the state in his previous campaigning." (Read more)