DES MOINES -- A nearly 13-year-old video of a younger, impassioned Mitt Romney calling for reductions in federal farm subsidizes is now dogging his presidential campaign in Iowa.

The video, and a series of 1994 news accounts of Romney calling for the "virtual elimination" of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, made their way into Republicans' e-mail in-boxes across Iowa this week. The former Massachusetts governor has been riding high in recent Iowa polls and is considered the GOP front-runner in the state.

A 52-second video posted on the Web site YouTube shows Romney during an October 1994 U.S. Senate debate against Sen. Ted Kennedy. The footage shows Romney citing several ways he would seek to cut the federal budget, including slicing congressional pensions and eliminating 250,000 federal jobs through attrition.

"I also believe we're going to have agriculture subsidies reduced," Romney said in the video.

Iowa -- home of the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses -- ranked first in the nation in farm subsidy payments in 2005 with $2.24 billion, according to the Environmental Working Group, which tracks federal payments.

Between 1995 and 2005, Iowa received $14.77 billion in crop subsidies, trailing only Texas with $14.86 billion.

Romney's Iowa campaign spokesman Tim Albrecht insisted an archival video does not diminish the former governor's strong support for agriculture.

"Gov. Romney believes that investing in agriculture is key to our economy and families," Albrecht said. "America's farmers not only provide food for the dinner table, but they will play a critical role in lessening our reliance on foreign sources of oil."

But Drake University political science professor Dennis Goldford said Romney's response probably won't be the last word on the episode.

"He's dodging the issue, and he's making a statement about agriculture that absolutely nobody would disagree with," Goldford said. "He's simply saying I'm in favor of motherhood and apple pie."

It's not the first time Romney's rivals have used YouTube to deliver an attack. Searching the word "Romney" on the Web site turns up more than 4,000 video clips, some posted by his own campaign and some placed by his political critics.

He's also not the first Massachusetts politician seeking the presidency to stir controversy on agriculture. In January 2004 Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry was criticized for his 1996 proposal to eliminate or shrink the agriculture department.

Kerry shrugged off the criticism and won Iowa's Democratic caucuses a few days later.

"Generally speaking, the farm vote tends to trend Republican, so this kind of thing would hurt a Republican more than a Democrat," Goldford said.

Contact Todd Dorman at (515) 243-0138 or todd.dorman@lee.net.