It was an odd setting for a policy pronouncement, but on the sidewalk outside the State Historical Building in Des Moines Friday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney embraced ethanol subsidies.

It came just days after his rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Tim Pawlenty, said the subsidies should be phased out.

“I support the subsidy of ethanol,” Romney told an Iowa voter. “I believe ethanol is an important part of our energy solution for this country.” Iowa leads the nation in the production of corn, a main source of ethanol.

Romney and a crowd that had come to see his first Iowa speech of the year had been evacuated from the State Historical Building by a fire alarm. Amid the tumult, a woman asked if he was going to take any questions.

He said given the circumstances, the question and answer part of the program appeared out of the question. So she presented him a typedout note demanding to know his position on ethanol, one she had intended to present at the presidential forum that had just abruptly ended.

His answer, delivered without hesitation, adhered to the orthodox position of politicians vying for Iowa votes. Romney also endorsed ethanol subsidies during his 2008 run for the White House.

Romney’s renewed support came just days after former Minnesota Gov. Pawlenty officially announced his candidacy and said the nation could no longer afford to subsidize ethanol, a position that he said backed up his claim to be the truth teller in the race.

That leaves the Republican primary contest with a peculiar situation: Pawlenty, a candidate who needs a strong showing, and possibly an outright victory, in Iowa is bucking a popular position while Romney, who may not contest Iowa as he focuses on other early states, has embraced most Iowans’ position.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

 

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