Republican Sen. Rob Portman is facing a tough challenge in Ohio from former governor and congressman Ted Strickland. Since Portman is a member of the vacationing McConnell Senate, he understandably doesn’t have a lot of accomplishments to put on his resume. So he thought he’d make a claim on a few he voted against.
”...he sent out 14 press releases a couple weeks before the omnibus bill passed taking credit for things that were in the omnibus bill — money for heroin treatment and prevention, money to clean up Lake Erie, money to tear down abandoned properties, money that would be essential for keeping the Piketon site going.
"He sent out all these press releases bragging about what he had done and then he voted against the bill, so quite frankly, he voted against any money for the Piketon site."
Portman’s defense is that he worked to get as much good stuff into the bill as he could ... before he voted against it. So why shouldn’t he take credit for the bill he didn’t support? After all, finding things that he successfully championed would be a lot harder.
Polls show a near dead heat, though currently Daily Kos Elections rates the spot as leaning toward Portman. So it’s no coincidence that President Obama will be in the neighborhood to remind voters that Portman is part of the Republican obstruction machine.