Rising fuel costs stoke ethanol politics

Iowa, the nation's top corn producing state, also accounts for the biggest share of the nation's ethanol production. "Ethanol is a big issue for not just the farmers in our state but all Iowans," said Don Peterson, a lobbyist with the Iowa Farm Bureau.

Plants provide jobs for farmers and those living in small towns, he said.

Another hot issue in rural Ohio is the increasing number of large-scale farm operations, some of which have pitted neighbor against neighbor over worries about odors and pollution.

Blackwell thinks technology is improving enough to deal with those concerns without halting the construction of new farms or shifting oversight away from the state agriculture department back to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

"Farmers and I don't want either to happen," he said.

Strickland said that while he understands the benefits of large-scale farming, more needs to be done to protect those living near the farms. "We can find a balance," he said. "There needs to be an effort to keep intolerable conditions from developing."

Winning Ohio's rural vote could go a long way toward getting elected on Nov. 7.

Conservatives in small towns and the farming belt in western Ohio came out in huge numbers for President Bush two years ago and were a key to his victory in the state, which gave him another four years in the White House.

Although residents in rural Ohio tend to vote Republican as a whole, Democrats think they can capture more votes this year because Strickland doesn't fit the mold of their past candidates.

He grew up in southern Ohio on a 20-acre farm. His family raised chickens and butchered pigs in the fall for meat. He supports the rights of gun owners. He says he understands what it's like to live in the country.

"It helps me develop a connection with people," Strickland said of his background. "It conveys that I have an appreciation for people who work the earth."

Blackwell, a native of Cincinnati, won strong support in the state's farm belt in the Republican primary in May against Jim Petro. In Mercer County, for example, Blackwell captured two out of three votes.

"Farmers are conservative," Blackwell said. "They know a genuine conservative when they see one or hear one."

He said they see eye to eye on both economic and social issues and that he is at ease talking with farmers about foreign trade, taxes and the Bible.

"We relate on a whole host of things," Blackwell said. "I ride horses, I shoot guns, I fish."

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