Sen. John McCain has clinched the Republican nomination for president, but can he clinch the vote of the Midwestern farmer? The Arizona senator's presidential campaign almost met an early demise last summer here in Iowa, and it's often said that his troubles were due in part to his well-documented opposition to ethanol tax credits. Now that McCain is the presumptive Republican nominee, those troubles may come back to haunt him once again in the battleground states of the Corn Belt. Corn growers in particular have reason to question McCain's positions on agricultural issues. He didn't do himself any favors by skipping important votes on the Farm Bill in December, and he didn't score well on an in-depth study of the presidential candidates' positions conducted last year by the Iowa Corn Growers Association.

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