9 interesting facts about Rob Portman

CINCINNATI - Ohio senator Rob Portman is rumored to be among the people Mitt Romney is considering as his running mate. Here are nine things you might not have known about the Buckeye State lawmaker, according to ABC News .

1. Portman wrote the book “Wisdom’s Paradise: The Forgotten Shakers of Union Village” about a Shaker village near Lebanon, Ohio. But Portman has not written a memoir or autobiography, as many politicians have.

2. He is fluent in Spanish.

3. He is a fan of kayaking.

4. Portman’s family has ties outside the Republican Party. His wife, Jane, used to work for Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle — a Democrat.

5. He has ties to both Bush presidencies. Portman was the Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs for George H.W. Bush and was the budget director and a trade representative under George W. Bush.

6. He has an anthropology degree from Dartmouth College and a law degree from the University of Michigan.

7. Portman played the roles of Al Gore and Barack Obama for George W. Bush and John McCain in preparation exercises before debates.

8. His estimated value is between $1.3 million and $16.3 million — comfortable, but still less wealthy than Romney.

9. Portman and his siblings own The Golden Lamb hotel in Lebanon.