Washington, D.C. - President Bush and John Kerry are going all out to woo rural voters in Iowa and other Midwest farm states. But Bush has an advantage Kerry doesn't - the federal purse strings.

On Friday, Bush's administration announced it was accelerating the distribution of $1.6 billion in payments under a variety of conservation programs. Of that, $49 million will go to Iowa and $88 million to Wisconsin and Minnesota, two other tossup states in the presidential campaign.The president also signed into law Friday an extension of federal ethanol subsidies and a temporary subsidy for biodiesel, a fuel additive made from soybeans.

"Both sides are appealing to rural votes because the so-called battleground states contain a lot of rural voters," said Tom Buis, a lobbyist for the National Farmers Union, which has endorsed Kerry, Bush's Democratic challenger.

"We have often lamented before that only during the Iowa caucuses do campaigns talk agriculture issues, and then they move on."This time, polls show tight races in all three states, and a small shift in the rural vote could be the difference for either candidate.

Among them, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota have 27 electoral votes, the same number as Florida.

The Agriculture Department would normally wait to release conservation money until Congress had approved the agency's annual budget. However, this year's budget was passed so late that the distribution was delayed until February, and Congress recessed for the election without finishing the USDA's 2005 appropriations bill."Releasing the funds earlier . . . gives farmers and ranchers more time to make sound decisions regarding conservation practices," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said.

The department estimated the size of the conservation payments based on versions of the spending bill pending in the House and Senate. The money is allocated to states for payments to individual farmers and to cover expenses. Not included are payments to farmers whose land is idled through the Conservation Reserve Program. Those payments are sent directly to farmers at the beginning of every October.In addition to the conservation money, farmers will receive $12 billion in crop subsidies because of falling commodity prices, USDA officials said. About $6.5 billion will go to corn growers and $1 billion to soybean producers.

Even before Friday, the USDA had been making regular announcements this month of millions of dollars in grants and loans.

On Monday, the department announced it was sending $207 million in conservation funds to Ohio, one of the largest battleground states, to improve water quality.Earlier announcements included $94 million in loans for high-speed Internet service in Iowa and five other states and $13 million in grants for new farmer-run businesses.

Veneman repeated the president's pledge to support continuation of a dairy subsidy program set to expire in 2005.

Kerry has accused Bush of plotting to kill the program, which is highly popular in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The Kerry campaign also has criticized Bush for opposing restrictions on meatpackers' control of livestock supplies.