Former Sen. Rick Santorum says GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump should promote the use of biofuels like ethanol as he makes campaign stops across the nation's Corn Belt.
"When you're on offense, you have a better chance of winning than when you're playing defense," Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania, told Bloomberg News.
"One of the things I'd certainly encourage Donald Trump to do is to go on offense on the biggest issue in the state of Iowa, and that's the issue of ethanol. Don't pass up the chance."
Santorum — a Pennsylvania Republican who was Trump's rival in the presidential race until dropping out earlier this year — said the billionaire real-estate tycoon should promote an 11-year-old federal program requiring renewable fuels to be blended into gasoline. One of them, ethanol, is made from corn.
The move could help Trump recover from a disastrous week of controversy which included his ongoing squabble with the parents of a slain Muslim-American soldier and his refusal to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan in Wisconsin's primary election.