Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could feel some “presidency heartburn” in Iowa and New Hampshire, the states that open the nominating process, because of her position on three issues, says political analyst Matt Baron in The Hill newspaper. Clinton initially opposed creation of the Renewable Fuels Standard in 2002, but voted to double the RFS in 2007. Yet she did not mention corn-based ethanol this summer in announcing her rural platform; she said she would work to “strengthen the RFS.” Baron writes, “Some industry leaders are willing to give Clinton a pass on her Senate voting record.”
Baron says Clinton also could face criticism for her votes as a senator a decade ago on federal reimbursement rates for rural hospitals and the eventual ban of gasoline additive MTBE, a competitor to ethanol and a pollutant.