Free Republic

As Senator Rob Portman has demonstrated, people are entitled to their opinions as much as they are entitled to change their mind. While I remain someone who supports traditional marriage I too have recognized that the momentum away from it is unstoppable (and at our own peril). It's why I don't spend a lot of time and brain damage on it. Of the moral decay plaguing America and the world this one issue is impossible to sway people on because those who don't believe there are inherent differences in gender that impact the raising of a child will simply not...

Rob Portman’s dual revelations that his son is gay and that he has decided to support gay marriage are both a touching story of familial love and another signpost in the astonishingly rapid success of the gay-rights revolution. Just over eight years ago, when Republicans gleefully seized on the gay-marriage issue to mobilize their base in Portman’s own state, it was inconceivable that a statewide Democrat would endorse gay marriage, let alone a Republican. The triumph of the issue relies upon the changing of minds — some thanks to force of argument, others to personal contact with gay friends, colleagues,...

Interesting for many reasons. Timing: He's dropping this during CPAC, when political media is focused on competing factions within conservative thought, and shortly before the Supreme Court takes up a landmark case on Prop 8 and DOMA. Enthusiasm: He didn't casually mention this during a standard Q&A with a reporter. He called three Ohio journalists to his office for the announcement, granted CNN an on-camera interview, and published an op-ed in today's Columbus Dispatch. He’s really throwing some weight behind it. Prominence: Portman was, of course, a shortlister for VP and is the lone GOP senator from America's ultimate swing...

A respected Republican senator has announced he is reversing his stance against gay marriage after his 21-year-old son came out to him and his wife. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican considered as a running mate by the Romney campaign, said the discovery that his son Will, 21, was gay had given him a 'new perspective' and understanding of why equal opportunities matter. Will, a junior at Yale University, came out to his politician father and mother, Jane, two years ago, The Plain Dealer reports. Portman, who backed the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, says since his son's announcement he has...

Washington (CNN) -- You probably recognize Sen. Rob Portman from his tireless campaigning for Mitt Romney in 2012. He was even on the short list to be Romney's running mate. He's been a leading Republican voice on economic issues for four decades. Now, the prominent Ohio conservative will be known for something else: reversing his hardline position against gay marriage. He invited CNN to his Senate office to reveal the news. "I'm announcing today a change of heart on an issue that a lot of people feel strongly about that has to do with gay couples' opportunity to marry," Portman...

Republican Sen. Rob Portman on Monday called on President Barack Obama to rescind government pay raises—including his own—saying they are out of line at a time the country is struggling to get its debt under control. … Under the executive order issued on Thursday, most members of Congress would receive a $900 annual raise, pushing their salary to $174,900. House Speaker John Boehner and the leaders of each party in each house would gain $1,100 a year. Vice President, Biden would get the biggest bump, with an increase of more than $6,000 to $231,900. …

On Friday Barack Obama told Denver’s WUSA TV that on 9-11 he gave the directives to “make sure that we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to” to ensure their safety in Benghazi. Late on Friday former Assistant Defense Secretary Bing West told FOX News that if the directive was made to secure our personnel there would be a paper trail. Today Ohio Senator Rob Portman told the FOX News Sunday that we need to find out if this order was ever issued. There was a shocking breakdown operationally not having the security there in the first...

It was only a few months back that there was plenty of hearty suspicion going around concerning the White House’s involvement in a specific string of high-profile national-security leaks to the media, and on MSNBC’s Meet the Press this morning, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman suggested something of the same vein in regards to yesterday’s report on possible negotiations between Iran and the United States, via the NJ: Portman, R-Ohio, said that the fact both countries are denying the story makes it look like another inappropriate leak from the administration rather than a diplomatic breakthrough.It looks like “another national security leak...

Concord, N.H. — It took Rob Portman five years to graduate from Dartmouth College. He switched majors twice, and he was rarely a habitué of Baker Memorial Library. Instead, Portman was a devoted outdoorsman. He spent hours on the slopes and even more on the water. For the skinny, long-haired teenager from Cincinnati, the Connecticut River’s strong currents were a refreshing diversion from Ivy League academia. The river’s rapids were also a training course. By 1977, Portman’s third year, he and some friends won a grant to kayak the entire length of the Rio Grande, from its source in southern...

OVERHEARD: Sen. John McCain (R) adding some fuel to the fire of constant veepstakes buzz surrounding one of his colleagues. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) was giving a group of interns a tour of the Capitol on Thursday when McCain breezed by. The senior senator from Arizona quipped to Portman’s young crew, “Now you can say you interned for Vice President Portman.” Portman is said to be on Mitt Romney’s shortlist of potential running mates.

Sitting atop every insider’s shortlist is one name: Senator Rob Portman. Of course, this is hardly news. For the past year, Portman has been mentioned as a leading vice-presidential contender. But the Ohio Republican’s smooth, steady run as a veep favorite isn’t happenstance, or merely a by-product of his swing-state roots. Portman has earned the interest. Ever since Portman endorsed Mitt Romney in January, ahead of Ohio’s March primary, the freshman senator has been a quiet but key Romney surrogate. On the trail, he’s a frequent presence at Romney’s side, and he’s traveled to North Carolina and Pennsylvania to stump....

More than 30 Republican senators — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) — will host a fundraiser in Washington on Monday for Josh Mandel, Ohio's state treasurer and the Republican nominee challenging Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). Ohio's other senator, Republican Rob Portman, will headline the reception, which is being held at the headquarters at the National Republican Senatorial Committee. NRSC Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) is also expected to attend, as are Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Jim DeMint (S.C.), Susan Collins (Maine), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Mike Lee (Utah). Tickets to attend start at $500 and go up to...

I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard Mitt Romney ‘repudiate’ a Super PAC message that hadn’t even been produced yet. It was a jolt of deja vu, harkening back to the bleak political tapestry created by the entrenched Republican beltway establishment. We’ve seen this entire story played out time after time, where the supposed champions of constitutional governance have been rolled over by the DeMarxists, simply because the agents of freedom have utterly failed to stand for the very principles they espouse. John McCain’s candidacy was a joke to anyone who followed politics closely. What I saw in John...

As Mitt Romney mulls who to pick as vice president, members of Congress in both parties agree that among their colleagues there is no better pick than Ohio Sen. Rob Portman. More than half of Democrats and exactly half of Republicans surveyed in National Journal's Congressional Insiders Poll said that Portman, a first term Republican, would make the best pick, among current members of Congress. Which type of politician would make the best choice for Mitt Romney to tap as vice president?   Democrats (19 votes) Republicans (23 votes) Member of Congress 37% 26% Governor 16% 39% Former officeholder...

There is no doubt in the minds of Republican National Committee members that Mitt Romney will be their standard bearer in the fall, and already consensus is building behind one potential vice presidential nominee — Ohio Sen. Rob Portman. In an informal survey of more than half of the Republican State Chairmen and national committee people at this weekend’s State Chairman meeting at a resort here, two-thirds said they believe Portman is the most-likely and best-qualified running-mate for Mitt Romney. The committee members spoke to BuzzFeed only on the condition of anonymity. “He’s from Ohio, and we need to win...

Political Insiders in both parties have noticeably cooled on the vice presidential prospects of Marco Rubio. Democratic and Republican strategists alike said Republican senator from Florida was the strongest GOP option for vice president in this week's National Journal Insiders Poll, but he carried only slim pluralities among both groups. That's a significant drop-off from the same survey taken in October, when 60 percent of Republicans and 65 percent of Democrats and considered him the party's best possible running mate. Now, just 34 percent of GOP insiders and 28 percent of Democrats say Rubio is the party's best hope...

Talk of a Mitt Romney-Rob Portman GOP presidential ticket, a leading pick among Republican insiders, picked up a flashy endorsement Wednesday from long-time political pundit and MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews. “Portman’s probably the best bet,” Matthews told the American Bankers Association convention of the Ohio senator. The former Carter speechwriter and top aide to legendary House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, suggested that the second best pick for Romney would be Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. “I think he’s looking at Virginia and Ohio” as states Romney must carry to beat President Obama, added Matthews. It's an assessment GOP officials...

Link only per FR copyright rules: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2012/01/16/portman-will-endorse-romney-probably-pretty-soon/

With not one Republican primary vote cast yet, we're getting way ahead of ourselves by speculating about whom Mitt Romney might pick as his vice-presidential running mate. But Willie Geist did invite Politico's Mike Allen to make his "bold predictions" for 2012. And Allen delivered, prognosticating that Romney would pick Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman as his ticket-mate. Mark Halperin strongly seconded Allen's assertion. View the video here.

LOUISVILLE, KY – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell Wednesday announced his appointments to the 12-member Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction tasked with reducing the deficit by $1.5 trillion more than the cuts already identified in the Budget Control Act. McConnell appointed Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), and Rob Portman (R-Ohio). “Chronic joblessness, out-of-control deficits and debt, and an unprecedented credit downgrade represent an historic challenge but also an historic opportunity for lawmakers in Washington to show they can work together on a plan that puts America back on the path to prosperity. All three of these...