Portman to speak in N.H. as VP rumors mount

WASHINGTON - Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio will appear at a roundtable event with New Hampshire Republicans later this week, his office publicized Monday.

According to the state's GOP, he'll lead the event Saturday at the party's headquarters in Concord, where he'll discuss the 2012 presidential election and take questions from the media.

The announcement came as presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney vacations this week in New Hampshire, a state CNN rates as a big "toss-up" in November.

And with Ohio expected to be another crucial battleground state, Portman is widely speculated to be a potential vice presidential pick for Romney.

The senator has made many high-profile appearances in recent weeks, including several campaign stops with Romney when the candidate blazed through Ohio on a bus tour last month.

Portman also traveled to Israel in May to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a trip that has practically become a must-stop for rising politicians.

A former budget director in the George W. Bush administration, Portman was elected to the Senate in 2010 with 57% of the vote and continues to hold a reputation as a popular GOP lawmaker.

The first-term senator, however, has remained fairly tight-lipped when pressed about his running mate potential.

"Well look, I'm happy where I am. I really am. I'm fortunate I get to represent our state in the Senate and that is where I intend to stay," Portman told CNN last week at a Romney campaign fund-raiser in Washington.

Later, in a sit-down interview with WEWS, a CNN affiliate in Cleveland, Portman hinted at his credentials for the possible gig.

"I've been able to bring people together to solve problems," he said.

Also Monday, Portman co-penned a memo for the Romney campaign along with Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey ahead of President Barack Obama's bus tour, which is scheduled to run through both Ohio and the Keystone State at the end of the week.

The memo blasted Obama over his 2008 campaign promises, an attack strategy the Romney campaign will be taking against Team Obama this week during the president's bus trip.

"Today, families sitting at their kitchen tables, worried about the future, are right to hold the president to his word," the memo stated.

The last candidate to win the presidential election without carrying Ohio was John F. Kennedy. Beginning with Lyndon Baines Johnson, Ohio has voted for the national winner in the last 12 presidential elections.