Ethanol has become a campaign issue in many areas, with political candidates often trying to outdo each other in proving how supportive they are of domestic fuels.

Take Missouri, for example. This story from the Columbia Missourian reports: There’s consensus on ethanol among the candidates for state representative seats in two rural Missouri districts: It’s good for farmers, good for the country and good for the economy, they say, but there’s not much more the state can do — at least for now — to encourage its use.

In the Missouri Senate race, Republican incumbent Jim Talent and Democrat Claire McCaskill both say they support alternative fuels such as ethanol, but McCaskill has raised objections to last year’s federal energy legislation that includes a renewable fuels standard. Talent is a strong supporter of the RFS and was instrumental in getting it included in the final energy bill passed by Congress. Both have traded barbs in campaign ads over who has done more or less for the ethanol industry, with the McCaskill camp claiming Talent voted against ethanol for 18 years.