Sen. Portman’s Upstream Paddle Toward a 2016 White House Bid
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US Congress(WASHINGTON) — When Sen. Rob Portman found himself in the middle of a river in Chile, unable to swim following a kayaking accident that dislocated his shoulder, he had one thought: Mel Gibson.
“I’m there alone on this big river in the middle of nowhere in Chile and what went through my mind was Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon 2,” Portman, a longtime kayaking enthusiast, told ABC News/Yahoo! News during a recent interview at the Washington Canoe Club on the Potomac River.
In the movie, Gibson’s character relocated his shoulder by jamming it into a filing cabinet. And though Portman didn’t have a filing cabinet in the middle of the river, he did have a rock.
“Didn’t work the first time,” Portman recalled of jamming his limp shoulder into the rock. “It worked the second time, and I made it to shore.”
The first-term Ohio Republican — elected by an 18-point margin in the most important swing state of all — just helped to lead Republicans through a successful midterm cycle as the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s finance chair. And he was on Mitt Romney’s shortlist as a potential running mate in 2012.
“Apparently, not short enough,” Portman joked.
Portman acknowledges that he’s now considering running for president himself in 2016.
“I am concerned about the country, and I want to see who else jumps in,” said Portman, who is also planning to run for another term in the Senate in 2016. “I think it’s a pivotal election so I am concerned enough that I am taking a look at it.”
Prior to being elected to the Senate, Portman worked in the executive branch, serving as U.S. Trade Representative and Budget Director for President George W. Bush and before that, represented Ohio’s 2nd District in Congress. But he has flown largely under the national radar as a potential 2016 contender — something Portman admits probably has to do with the fact that he’s a better legislator than he is a campaigner.
“I can give a speech and I can do a rally and I do them but that’s not what I like to do,” Portman said. “Our country needs people who are maybe a little less focused on themselves and on the flash and a little more focused on how do we actually create a better environment for success for our young people, how do we get people back to work, how do we regain our standing internationally.”
He also didn’t rule out the possibility that he might end up working for another President Bush, when asked about rumors that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush might also mount a bid for the White House.
“It’s an intensely personal decision,” Portman said of Bush. “He’s got to make that decision. I know he’s talking to his family about it and trying to decide whether he’s gonna do it or not. I do think it will be a spirited Republican primary, a spirited debate, and lots of folks in it.”
Another personal decision that Portman made for himself last year — and caused waves across the GOP in doing so — was becoming the first Republican in the Senate to openly support gay marriage.
“It’s actually been a very emotional issue,” said Portman. “I hadn’t thought about it deeply until my son came to me and surprised Jane and me at 18 years old and said, ‘You know, dad, I’m gay and have been as long as I can remember.’”
“[I] thought about it more deeply and thought about that the fact that this is not a choice and that my son deserves to have the same happiness Jane and I have had, and the joy and stability that comes with marriage. We want to encourage that as Republicans,” he continued. “It’s a position that I feel very comfortable with, and I’m glad I made it.”
Portman said he thinks the Republican Party will “eventually” come around to share his perspective on the issue.
As he paddled downstream, Portman also told ABC News/Yahoo! News about his involvement in a program called Team River Runner to help wounded warriors learn how to kayak with their handicaps.
“I started working with them, because I was at Walter Reed [Army Medical Center] one day visiting the wounded troops, and I saw a sign for kayaking rolling lessons in the pool,” Portman said. “So, I went out and did some of that, then I started going out in the Potomac with them here in Washington, and it’s really fun. …Some are single and some are double amputees but boy can they kayak.”
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