As the days go by, Iowa looms larger. What is currently?the most important 2008 buzzword? Ethanol:

Over a dozen potential presidential candidates have poured into Iowa this month and most made a point to mention their support of ethanol and the state’s other energy projects. Republican Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the U.S. House, told a crowd at the State Fair that ethanol’s time has arrived because the influence of so-called “big oil” has waned in Washington with pump prices at about three-dollars-a-gallon.

“We actually have to encourage ordinary Americans to understand the significance and the importance of it to their ordinary lives, not just the $3 a gallon price they’re paying at the pump, but what it’s doing to their country,” Vilsack said. “What this really needs to be is an issue of patriotism, building a stronger America and a more secure America.”

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a Democrat who served as U.S. Energy Secretary for President Clinton, was in Iowa last week and he made a pitch not only for ethanol, but other “renewable” forms of energy.”It’s not just that we become more energy efficient by using solar, wind, biomass, ethanol,” Richardson said. “It creates jobs — technology jobs, High-wage jobs. They’d be created right here in Iowa.” Richardson declared Iowa the center for renewable energy.

Suprise! Senator McCain is now?touting Ethanol’s promise:

Even Republican John McCain, the Arizona Senator who opposes the federal tax break for ethanol, spoke in favor of the fuel during a speech in Grinnell on August 15th. “My position on ethanol was (and) is support of ethanol when oil went over $40 a barrel. I do not support subsidies but I support ethanol and I think it is a vital, a vital alternative energy source not only because of our dependency on foreign oil but its greenhouse gas reduction effects,” McCain said.

McCain declared himself a “strong” supporter of ethanol.