Get Dumped Then, Rob Portman
We must remember what he did.
Senator Rob Portman earlier this week punched his ballot to confirm Amy Coney Bennett, an unqualified Federalist Society freak who could serve beyond 2059, to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court.
He did that because he’s a gutless worm and loyal Trumpster who isn’t up for re-election 2022, when he’s banking on Trump to either be in his second term or already forgotten by a majority of American voters.
No abomination or incompetence could sway Portman’s faith in Trump. The truth is Portman has come to value his life as a Very Important Senator and he understands Trump could barnstorm the state in 2022 and put some true crackpot like Rep. Nino Vitale (R-Urbana) in his place.
I understand why Portman molds an image as a sensible moderate who is willing to work in a bipartisan fashion to improve the lives of his constituents. What I don’t understand is why professional political reporters buy that bunk in the first place.
Gee, who is to say? We’re talking about the Chairman of the Ukrainian Caucus who turned a blind eye to President Business Deals suborning American foreign policy in an effort to extort Ukraine. This dude sucks shit and he deserves to be booted from public life.
Ohio Democrats showed some surprising initiative, announcing a fundraiser to build a a war chest for Portman’s eventual 2022 opponent.
This is a page out of Maine Democrats’ playbook, which raised $3 million for Sen. Susan Collins’ eventual opponent (Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon) after Collins voted for Judge Kavanaugh. She was the only Republican to cast an albeit inconsequential “No” vote against Amy Coney Barrett.
The bad news is the fund is a long way from $3 million.
From Darrel Rowland of dispatch.com:
A fledgling Democratic effort to built a warchest — launched immediately after Monday night's Senate vote to confirm Amy Coney Barrett — to use against Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman generated $25,000 in its first 12 hours of existence.
"We did it!" tweeted one of the organizers of the effort, Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab Pureval.
Oh, Jesus. Aftab Pureval is not a name I want to see organizing anything involving a statewide election considering how his Congressional campaign imploded in a series of bizarre scandals in 2018.
Portman’s 2016 campaign manager, a Republican whose parents decided “Corey” should have two R’s for some reason, is talking shit about elections that occurred over a decade ago.
From Henry J. Gomez of buzzfeednews.com:
“I would caution any potential challenger to pause and ask themselves what happened to Ted Strickland and Lee Fisher, because the same fate awaits that person in 2022,” said Corry Bliss, Portman’s 2016 campaign manager, mentioning the former Ohio governor and lieutenant governor who lost to Portman four and ten years ago, respectively. “Rob is a proud conservative, and he wakes up every day trying to deliver results to the people of Ohio.”
Others involved in promoting the anti-Portman fund include Portage County Commissioner Kathleen Clyde, Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein, and Franklin County Recorder Danny O’Connor. Clyde and Klein are senior advisers to Biden’s campaign in Ohio. Like Whaley and Pureval, all are under 45, politically ambitious, and considered among the next generation of Democratic leadership in the state. Whaley, who is close with Ohio’s other senator, Sherrod Brown, is at the top of most party insiders’ lists as a statewide candidate in two years.
Kathleen Clyde and Nan Whaley are fine. Zach Klein, Danny O’Connor and Pureval… not so much.
Personally, I’m more worried about a candidate to go against DeWine or Jon Husted in 2022. But if we’re talking about candidates to take down Portman, the only one of the aforementioned Democrats that has that power is Whaley. And I’m not even sure if she has a statewide juice considering how her national moment fizzled out much like gun control legislation after the Dayton Massacre in which nine people were shot to death in 28 seconds.
There are only two candidates who can beat Portman, and both have differing levels of realism:
LeBron James, NBA Champion
To beat Portman, we’re going to need statewide juice and a candidate that can drive non-traditional midterm voters to the polls. Who better than tha Kang himself, the greatest basketball player of all time?
Any racist yokel that wants to whine about his social justice activism wasn’t going to vote for him anyway.
Is this a bit of a pipe dream? Admittedly yes. But with LeBron’s legacy already cemented, it’s not like he won’t be practicing “load management” for the rest of his career and could manage a part-time career like being in the Senate. Would it be something he would be interested? He has always been a man who enjoys proving he can do more than dribble a basketball.
Dr. Amy Acton
If I’m the Ohio Democratic Party, I am doing whatever it takes to recruit Dr. Amy Acton into the race against Rob Portman. If Biden proves the new key to electoral victory in Ohio runs through the suburbs, then who better to turn out the wine mom caucuses in this state than Dr. Amy Acton? I promise you, these women will set canvassing records for her and Acton’s work would juxtapose well against Portman’s enabling of Trump that unleashed this pandemic on us in the first place.
Now, my only question would be if Dr. Acton could be talked into running. We’re talking about a humble public servant that got drummed out of office by conspiracy theorists, crackpot grifters and armed militia zealots. Would she want to endure an entire Senatorial campaign?
….
Outside of those three, who else is there? I like Kathleen Clyde, but I don’t think most voters in Ohio are familiar with a Portage County Commissioner. If she got into the race, I think it would depend on having a strong gubernatorial nominee to lead the ticket, and the state party under David Pepper has failed to show they can recruit one of those yet.
Outside of that, it would basically become a list of which sacrificial lamb you would feel good about throwing to the slaughter.
Probably not the rah-rah message that folks want to hear six days away from what could be the most consequential election of their lifetime (for me, that will always be Bush vs. Gore in 2000).
But it’s true. I want to wipe that smug smile and sense of false humility right out from under Portman. We just have to be smart about it. Yes, I’d be willing to donate to Portman’s opponent provided they had a snowball’s chance in Hell. What I’m not about to do is cut a check to unimaginative opportunists like Pureval, O’Connor or Klein.