WOKE UP THIS MORNIN' WITH MY MIND ON THE CAUCUSES:

Sen. Clinton: Add ethanol, cut foreign oil (DEVLIN BARRETT, May 23, 2006, ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The senator recommended a combination of government tax incentives, private investment and new research to cut the consumption of foreign oil in half by 2025, or by nearly 8 million barrels a day.

She also called for a massive expansion of ethanol, a corn-based fuel additive and substitute, which is currently only available at a small percentage of gas stations in the United States.

Ethanol is popular in corn-producing states, especially Iowa, which holds the first caucus of the presidential primary.

President Bush and other elected officials have called for a greater expansion of E-85, a fuel made of 85 percent ethanol that can be used in vehicles built to run on both regular unleaded gasoline and E-85.

Clinton called for accelerating the spread of E-85 to half of the nation's gas stations by 2015 by offering a 50 percent tax credit for station owners who install ethanol pumps.

Republicans criticized her proposal even before she started speaking, noting that she had voted against drilling for oil in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge and against some of Bush's other energy expansion proposals.

So take her proposal add ANWR drilling and bring it to a vote.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 23, 2006 11:57 AM