Terry Branstad was first elected governor of Iowa in 1982. His six terms in office have made him the longest serving governor in American history and the most influential politician in the state. He rarely takes sides in the Republican caucuses and hasn't endorsed a primary presidential candidate since 1996.

But the 2016 election is different in so many ways.

On Tuesday, January 19, at the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit, Branstad jumped into the fray by attempting to influence the outcome of the February 1 caucus'not with an endorsement, but with a denouncement: "I don't think that Ted Cruz is the right one for Iowans to support in the caucus."

Branstad slammed Cruz because, as he told reporters: "He's opposed to the wind energy tax credit. He's opposed to ethanol and biodiesel"'which are the very positions that make Cruz an attractive candidate to limited-government, free-market Republicans.

Cruz has had the integrity to hold to his position of eliminating all subsidies on energy'even in Iowa where the winner of every caucus in both parties, since the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) became law, as a part of the Energy Policy Act, in 2005, has "strongly backed federal subsidies or mandates for the corn-grown fuel," reports John Fund.

In his first year in office, Cruz co-sponsored legislation to repeal the RFS'which requires ever-increasing amounts of ethanol be blended into the nation's fuel supply. In 2014, he took a different bite at the same issue and introduced a bill that would overhaul several energy policies, including phasing out the ethanol mandate in five years. Early in the campaign season, at the 2015 Ag Summit, March 7, Cruz was the only GOP candidate who didn't support the RFS.

Since then, several GOP candidates have supported its phase-out. However, of all the presidential candidates, from both parties, only Cruz and Rand Paul received a "bad" rating on the American Renewable Future's (ARF) "Final presidential report card on the Renewable Fuel Standard on the Renewable Fuel Standard"'which means they demonstrated consistent opposition to the RFS.

While both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump received a "good" rating, Clinton didn't actually earn it, as her support for the RFS hasn't been "consistent." Fund writes: "Hillary Clinton voted against ethanol a total of 17 times in the U.S. Senate, saying she found it G