Yesterday in Iowa, Cruz said he would leave the ethanol mandate in place for now — not touching it at all in his first term, and then letting it expire when the current mandate is (kind of) set to expire, in his theoretical second term.

“The RFS is scheduled to expire in 2022,” Cruz said in Cherokee, Iowa. “When I said we should phase it out, I said it should be a five-year phase out. A phase-out from 2017 to 2022 is a five-year phaseout.”

America’s Renewable Future, the ethanol lobby spearheaded by Eric Branstad (the governor’s son) has been attacking Cruz viciously for months. Today they’re applauding him.