CLEVELAND — As chaos ensued at the Republican National Convention down the street, Sen. Rob Portman touted his campaign’s organizational strength amid a tough re-election fight that may decide which party controls the Senate next year.
Rather than attend early convention festivities, Portman held an event at Cuyahoga Community College for a “VIP” group of interns and volunteers who have knocked on over 2,016 doors or called as many voters.
Portman and campaign manager Corry Bliss ran through their perceived strengths in their fight against former Gov. Ted Strickland, citing anecdotal microtargeting data. They mentioned the seven campaign coalitions, ten state field offices and Portman’s tireless campaigning in comparison with Strickland’s. Strickland has been ridiculed for not attending any Fourth of July events, for example.
Yet questions swirl about what kind of organization Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee are going to have in swing states like Ohio. Bliss downplayed this, suggesting confidence in his own campaign’s ground game.
“It’s important,” Bliss said, noting over 500 people in attendance at Monday’s event. “That’s how you win. You identify your vote, find out what they care about and turn them out … This is part of our campaign. We’ve had three ‘Super Saturdays’ where we’ve done 50,000 doors a day. Rob goes into one of our ten offices every single weekend. This is essential to our campaign.”
Portman’s team gave a sense of optimism over internal and public polling showing them with an edge over Strickland. The campaign cited its efforts in micro-targeting as a reason for the change in public polls, specifically noting its work in the Toledo area and those in the area who have cited issues involving Lake Erie as their pet cause.
Bliss told supporters and a handful of reporters that there are about 33,000 individuals in the area that view Lake Erie as the top issue for them, having contacted all but 2,000 over the past two months. In that time the campaign says they went from down three points in the region to up 6.5 points, a nearly ten point swing.
Portman was joined at the larger event by Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who called the incumbent Republican a “problem solving conservative,” pointing to the number of bills he’s gotten through on a bipartisan basis and signed by the president. He also contrasted his work in Congress with that of Strickland, who represented Southeast Ohio for six terms.
“I remember Gov. Strickland when he was Congressman Strickland. He is one of those very rare people who has, in a long career, managed to learn nothing,” Gingrich said to a room full of laughs. “It’s a very unusual art form.”
Earlier in the day Strickland found himself in hot water after he and his campaign handed out fortune cookies with the message “Rob Portman: The Best Senator China’s Ever Had.”
Portman, who ended up stopping by the convention hall later, is set to hold events in Northeast Ohio throughout the week, including a kayak event on the Cuyahoga River on Tuesday.
