Ethanol's Biggest Booster: Early Iowa Primary

Report after report has found corn-based ethanol deficient, but that hasn't stopped candidate after candidate from embracing the renewable fuel. Biofuels and other renewable energy sources have to be a strong part of the nation's future, as the world confronts climate change and the nation seeks "energy independence."

But corn-based ethanol, as opposed to promising cousins derived from other farm products, comes with a counterweight of downsides that make its renewable upside wan. Enter Iowa, a political powerhouse because of its early presidential primaries. Because Iowa has for so many years played a leading king-making role in the nation's politics, its staple crop, corn, has also remained king.

Candidates are talking that talk.

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