Supporters of our president had better be ready to answer that question. Search as hard as you want in these archives, the cabinet is almost bare. More below the fancy scribble.
I raise the issue about Ohio's quietly vicious right-wing United States senator and George W. Bush's budget director, because today, for the first time since I've been following the betting site "Intrade," it has Robert Jones Portman as the favorite to be Mr. Etch A Sketch's vice presidential pick.
Intrade calculates the percentage chances of roughly any bet based on the amount of volume traded for or against that particular proposition. While not an infalable source of wisdom, Intrade is in my opinion very useful for spotlighting trends as they develop in politics, rather better, I think, than predicting actual outcomes. A lot of last-minute trades skew the final numbers.
As of today, Intrade bettors are saying that Portman will be Romney's Veep, and among a long and bizarre list, shows him with the best percentage as achieving that bucket of warm spit. I believe the Intrade numbers today are significant because they show, for the first time in many, many months, that Marco Rubio is no longer considered the favorite.
So, I ask, who is Rob Portman?
I can tell you what I know, and that he is not easily dismissed.
Portman, in interviews, is intelligent, cunning and savvy, a sort of younger Dick Cheney, if you will, for the Rmoney equivalent of Dubya Resurrected. He was a stand-in for Dubya's practice debate with Al Gore in 2000, and was said to have suggested Shrub's humorous reaction when Gore lumbered up to the dummy (Portman actually predicted Gore would do it).
So let's hear it, Kossacks. If Portman is the man, what's the plan?