Free Republic

Des Moines — Only weeks after taking this key state in the presidential race by surprise, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker defended his front-runner status in Iowa by pledging to support a federal ethanol mandate, shifting his position on renewable fuels at a Republican roundup on farm issues. The GOP governor and a lineup of other major potential presidential contenders — including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — took the stage before hundreds of spectators and media at the Iowa Ag Summit at the state fairgrounds here. In the moderated discussion with ethanol entrepreneur Bruce Rastetter, Walker dropped his previous flat...

Following a meeting with President Barack Obama's top energy adviser, Minnesota Senator Al Franken on Thursday said he believes the Environmental Protection Agency will raise its biofuels blending targets when it finalizes the 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard. "We are hoping for and we definitely believe we're going to get higher numbers than in the preliminary rule, and we hope they're significantly higher," Franken said on a conference call with reporters. Franken and eight other Democratic senators met with Obama adviser John Podesta to discuss the biodiesel mandate within the 2014 RFS, though Franken said ethanol issues came up, as well....

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley sides with the Iowa Corn Growers Association as ethanol production came under fire. According to an investigation by the Associated Press, ethanol production puts added stress on the environment through erosion and fertilizer pollution. AP reported that “the ethanol era has proven far more damaging to the environment than politicians promised and much worse than the government admits today.” The Iowa Corn Growers Association disagreed, saying they have reduced fertilizer use and that plants have become more efficient in utilizing what they produce.

Thanks to the ethanol mandate, more than 40 percent of the nation's corn crop now goes into the production of a useless fuel that hardly anyone would buy if the government didn't require it. That's up from just 17 percent in 2005, before the mandate went into effect. Only 36 percent of the corn crop now goes for feed, and 24 percent goes for food. Obama could solve this problem instantly by suspending the federal ethanol mandate -- something his EPA actually can do unilaterally and legally. Instead, Obama will buy up meat -- a move that meat producers say...

Tim Pawlenty is making it official today. For a candidate in the low single digits, he’s been given strong odds for winning the nomination by some analysts. George F. Will said a couple of weeks ago that the former Minnesota governor is one of three people who might be sworn in as president in 2013 — and the other possibilities include only one actual candidate, Barack Obama (the other was Mitch Daniels). The rapidly congealing conventional wisdom is that all the no-shows in the field benefit the former Minnesota governor. There’s no doubt that Pawlenty has real strengths. He compiled...

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a laid-back Midwestern Republican who governed a Democratic-leaning state, is running for president and will declare his candidacy on Monday in the leadoff caucus state of Iowa, an adviser told The Associated Press. The adviser, who disclosed the plans on the condition of anonymity in advance of next week's announcement, said Pawlenty will formally enter the race during a town hall-style event in Des Moines, Iowa. He's choosing to make his long-expected bid official in a critical state in his path to the GOP nomination. Advisers acknowledge that Pawlenty, 50, must win or turn in...

As Pawlenty prepares to run for the Republican nomination for president, his main problem is simple: Most Americans have never heard of him. Republicans tend to prefer known commodities: Every winner of the Republican nomination in the last 70 years had a national reputation a year before the primaries. Courage to Stand is not selling well. Yet Pawlenty may just be the Republicans’ strongest presidential candidate for 2012. Compared with his competitors, he is either more conservative, more electable, or both. Read the rest here http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/261416/pawlenty-ramesh-ponnuru?page=1

WASHINGTON (AP) — With global food prices rising and more corn being diverted to the production of ethanol fuel, Bill Clinton is warning of food riots in poor nations. The former president told farmers and Agriculture Department employees on Thursday that while producing biofuels is important for reducing America's dependence on foreign oil, farmers should also look beyond domestic production and consider the needs of developing countries. "I think the best thing to say is we have to become energy independent, but we don't want to do it at the cost of food riots," Clinton said.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former President Bill Clinton on Thursday warned farmers not to use so much corn for ethanol fuel that it leads to higher food prices and riots in poor countries. Clinton told farmers and Agriculture Department employees that he believes producing biofuels such as corn-based ethanol is important for reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) took to Twitter on Friday to say he has "serious concerns w/ some provisions" of the tax legislation unveiled by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), but that he'll support it anyway. The bill, introduced Thursday, leaves President Obama's compromise largely unaltered but adds tax credits for alternative energy, energy-efficient homes and other "green" efforts. These provisions aim to soothe liberal Democrats who oppose the deal's extension of tax cuts for the wealthy.