US Presidential candidate Fred Thompson reverses position on ethanol

US Presidential candidate Fred Thompson told reporters that he was reversing his position on ethanol. Thompson had voted against two key ethanol bills in the 1990s when he served in the US Senate.

“Well, when I was in the Senate, oil was, I think, like $23 a barrel,” Thompson told reporters outside his first fundraising event in Illinois since declaring his candidacy last month.

“It’s a different world now, not only the price of oil but what’s going on in the Middle East, what’s going on with regards to Russia, which is becoming a major oil country,” he said. “We can’t afford that kind of dependence.”

He was speaking after campaigning in Iowa, the leading US ethanol and biodiesel producing state which is home to the critical Iowa presidential caucuses in January 2008.

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