In Iowa, voters’ eyes on pump prices

Iowa is an energy-hungry farming state, where long-distance drives between far-flung cities are a way of life. Here, people watch the price of gasoline at places like the QT service station nearly as closely as the weather forecast during planting season.

These days, they don’t like what they see.

And with just over a month until the Iowa caucuses, that could have ramifications for the out-of-towners trying to win their support in the presidential race.

“It’s outrageous,” said a fuming Kevin Burkett one recent day as he put $20 of gas into his car’s tank.

In Iowa, the first major battleground for the presidential contenders, gas prices average $3 a gallon -- up from $2.16 a year ago. The cost has eased somewhat over the last six months and is far less than the $3.40-to-$3.50 a gallon that many Southern Californians have paid lately for self-service regular.

Yet, to Iowans like Burkett, 49, a maintenance worker, it seems that the price at the pump “always goes up by a quarter but it only comes down by a dime.”

Higher prices, particularly over the long run, can cut more than one way here. The state is the nation’s leading producer of ethanol, an alternative to gasoline made from corn, and lots of motorists here drive on E85, an ethanol-gasoline blend.

Still, the same farmers who have benefited from record-high corn prices are seeing their profits trimmed by the increased cost of gasoline and other products tied to oil -- and no one likes spending more to fill up. That figures to raise the anxieties of many voters as the Jan. 3 caucuses approach.

The concerns were evident on a recent afternoon at the QT gas station in downtown Des Moines, where throughout the day vehicles jostle for spaces at the pumps. Inside the station, people can choose between egg rolls and corn dogs on the grill as well as 24 flavors of soft drinks at the soda fountain. Amid a constant stream of customers, the attendant greeted many by name.

Linda Shepley, who pulled into the station to fuel her black Suburban, said she had tried to reduce her driving as gas prices had climbed. The co-owner of Ritual Cafe, a Des Moines coffee shop, said she rode her 10-speed bike whenever she could to save money.

Energy policy “could probably make or break a candidate for me,” said Shepley, 44, a Democrat who has yet to decide on her choice for president.

Surging gasoline and oil prices long have been a potent political force, undercutting the approval ratings of presidents back to Richard Nixon, who suffered through the 1973 Arab oil embargo. Jimmy Carter was hammered by an oil-price shock the year before he lost the White House to Ronald Reagan in 1980.

In 2004, energy costs emerged as a contentious topic in the presidential contest. Democrats accused the Bush administration of crafting a secret deal with Saudi Arabia to lower gasoline prices before the election, a charge the White House denied.

It’s not clear which candidates are likely to be helped or hurt in the Iowa caucuses by high fuel costs, but the topic is sure to figure prominently in November’s presidential election.

A national poll this month underscored public sentiment. The respondents ranked gas prices as an issue more important to voters than taxes, immigration, same-sex marriage or abortion.

As the candidates travel across Iowa, the subject of energy policy and rising fuel costs comes up frequently. Republican contenders have talked about the need for American energy independence but have not been as focused on the subject as the Democratic candidates, who have presented more detailed plans to support renewable energy and cut carbon gas emissions.

A few blocks from the QT, several leading Democratic candidates recently convened at a hotel for a debate about farming. The talk quickly turned to ethanol and energy.

Those topics resonate with Jack Knutson, 70, a civil engineer who farms on the side. Although Knutson sold his corn this year at a higher price than in 2006, the extra revenue was offset by increased expenses for oil and gas.

“It takes fuel to produce corn,” Knutson said. The gasoline hike alone has cost him at least $10,000 more this year to fuel his four trucks on the farm, he said.

Though Knutson’s main political concern is the cost of the war in Iraq, he also wants the candidates to outline how they see America becoming energy-independent.

Stuart Melvin, 65, a Republican who is undecided on the candidates, agrees that putting the nation on a path to energy independence is crucial, but he doesn’t believe that the candidates are making it a top priority.

“They all come to Iowa and say, ‘We support ethanol,’ ” but discuss too little else about energy, he said.

For his part, Melvin drives a GMC truck that runs on E85, the ethanol-gasoline mix.

“I don’t want to help any Saudi prince buy a flying palace,” said Melvin, standing at Cenex gas station in Nevada, a town north of Des Moines. At the station, a gallon of the ethanol blend was selling for about a dollar less than regular gasoline.

Still, Melvin said, his mileage is worse with E85, so the savings aren’t great. He says he swears by ethanol because it’s a boon for his state: “It’s a grass-roots movement to help ourselves.”

Harry Colbert Jr., 38, an arborist, is pessimistic about the ability of any president to bring down oil prices, and he doesn’t expect to take the issue into account when he votes.

Still, Colbert, a political independent, sympathizes with fellow Iowans feeling squeezed by prices at the pump. Colbert’s boss recently told him and other employees at the gardening company where he works that there would be no pay raises this year because of higher fuel costs.

“I understand where he’s coming from,” Colbert said, despite his disappointment about the boss’ plans. “I have to put gas in my truck too.”

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louise.roug@latimes.com