("It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for first-generation ethanol." On reflection, Gore said the energy conversion ratios -- how much energy is produced in the process -- "are at best very small." "One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee," he said, "and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president."; no confession, as of yet, as to whether Mr. Gore has made the same "mistake" concerning "global warming").