To most advocates of corn-based ethanol, John McCain is enemy number one on Capitol Hill . The Republican presidential nominee is staunchly opposed to the federal subsidies, tariffs, mandates and other price supports that have been showered on corn ethanol, without which the industry’s backers say it would not exist.

Though he has said he thinks alcohol-based fuels such as ethanol hold “great promise” as an alternative to petrol, he has promised to drastically cut government spending and thinks the subsidies are distorting the market and increasing the price of food. This year he supported legislation proposed by Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican, that would have frozen ethanol mandates at current levels.