Branstad is an ass, but he's right on this one. Wind Power has been a huge success in the midwest.

"I will let wind subsidies expire for those people who want them to expire and I will let them continue for those who want them to continue. It will all work out somehow. No, I will not tell you how. You have to elect me first, then I will tell you."

Also, abortions for some, miniature American flags for others!

But he still endorses Romney, right?

We subsidize hydro, coal, oil, and natural gas. We subsidize the hell out of nuclear. Why not subsidize wind and solar?

Iowa should be a cake-walk for Romney, but by sticking with his big oil buddies, his poll numbers there are sinking like a stone. That is one messed up campaign.

Branstad blamed “confusion” in the Romney campaign

Blaming the status quo, eh?

There is no surprise here red and in Iowa's case pink states get more federal money then blue states. Turn that around blue states subsidize red states.

No surprise a Republican Governor would whine about loosing federal tax money.

Windmills kill nearly half a million birds a year, according to a Fish and Wildlife estimate. The American Bird Conservancy projected that the number could more than double in 20 years if the administration realizes its goal for wind power. For years, the wind energy industry has had a license to kill golden eagles and lots of other migratory birds.
Over the past two decades, the federal government has prosecuted hundreds of cases against oil and gas producers and electricity producers for violating some of America's oldest wildlife-protection laws: the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and EagleProtectionAct.
But the Obama administration has never prosecuted the wind industry despite myriad examples of widespread, unpermitted bird kills by turbines.
Last June, the Los Angeles Times reported that about 70 golden eagles are being killed per year by the wind turbines at Altamont Pass, about 20 miles east of Oakland, Calif. A 2008 study funded by the Alameda County Community DevelopmentA gency estimated that about 2,400 raptors, including burrowing owls, American kestrels, and red-tailed hawks—as well as about 7,500 other birds, nearly all of which are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act—are being killed every year by the turbines at Altamont.
So keep on pushing on this "green energy" while species are going extinct because people refuse to see the main reason why we are running out of fuel: OVERPOPULATION. We shouldn't focus on how we can rape our planet of more resources we should focus on reducing the world population and then all the problems will be solved.
Check this out: http://www.vhemt.org/

@11, reducing population is all fine and dandy (although it's worth pointing out that much of our society is predicated on growing populations; Social Security, for instance, doesn't work with shrinking populations).

But that doesn't change the fact that we have people now who demand electricity. And all sources have problems associated with them.

What's your alternative? Burn more coal, oil and gas? More nuclear plants? More hydroelectricity? It seems to me that, the impact on birds notwithstanding, wind has less of an ecological impact than many of the other options.

I don't mean to make light of the point, but according to the google search I just did, 100 million birds die every year due to collisions with building windows. Let's keep ecotragedies in perspective. Sustainable energy that doesn't destroy habitat or wreck the climate is probably good for birds, on balance.

And yes, the planet is insanely overpopulated. Obvs.