The Vinick motorcade consists of three massive SUVs. Vinick is telling Jill and Mr. James that he never wanted to commit any resources to Iowa in the first place, but they both think that it was important to try to make a good showing in a rural state: "A Republican can't win the White House without the farm belt." By the way, Jill identifies their main opponent as being someone named "Allard." I think this is the closest the show has come to using a real politician's name for one of their fictional politicians. If the fictional Allard is half as moronic as the real Allard, Vinick should have this thing sewn up. Anyway, back to the show. Vinick thinks ethanol is bad, and he doesn't want to change his position: "I'm not a panderer." Mr. James thinks that this is "a non-panderer's pander. Even General Patton would have pandered on ethanol." Vinick turns to Jill and asks her, "Et tu, Brute?" She doesn't say anything, but gives a small nod.

Cut to Vinick addressing a small crowd in what I assume is a barbershop. (That shrewd guess is based on the fact that there's a guy sitting in a chair getting a haircut. Now you can see why they hired me for this gig.) He's talking about the economic problems facing rural America. The interesting part of this scene is that twice he's challenged by someone who disagrees with him, and both times he sticks to his position, backing it up with facts, while still giving some respect to his challenger.

The motorcade pulls into a parking lot, and Jimmy James is suggesting that they could use a new study put out by the Ethanol Institute, which shows that "if we put 10\% ethanol in every gas tank in America, we can reduce worldwide oil demand by 2\%." They discuss ethanol: "Blah blah blah." Mr. James tries to use the argument that supporting ethanol reduces reliance on foreign oil, but Vinick doesn't buy it: "Making a gallon of ethanol takes almost a gallon of oil. That's like saying that using tonic water as an additive reduces our demand for gin." Is it bad that it's 6:30 in the morning and I really want a gin and tonic? Vinick reminds them that he needs to call Valerie after she gets out of school. Jimmy James asks Vinick if he'll at least look at the study, and Vinick tells him, "It's a classic study of a stupid policy rammed down our throats by special interests. It makes as much sense as building patio furniture out of corn. But sure, I'll take a look." Y'all, I'm starting to like him.