Portman's Wikipedia page has over 70 edits today (50 a page).

[aquart]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Portman

Xchrom said look at the wiki. Rubio, Christie, O'Donnell, etc. Some had changes. NONE like Portman.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1088839

nc4bo spotted Portman's page.

Is this the tell?

Is Portman Mitt's veep?

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Bingo...saw a post on that earlier, wondered if it would materialize.

[DearAbby]

2. Going safe bet.

Wonder how many tax returns did Portman have to release to get the nod?

[woo me with science]

39. Interesting edits:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rob_Portman&action=history

(cur | prev) 22:45, 7 August 2012‎ NuclearWarfare (talk | contribs)‎ . . (38,279 bytes) (-255)‎ . . (none of these refs support the statement made. MastCell is right; the refs are stopping just short of calling him a lobbyist, instead preferring to say at most that he worked for a lobbying firm.)

(cur | prev) 21:45, 7 August 2012‎ MastCell (talk | contribs)‎ . . (38,117 bytes) (-538)‎ . . (probably an over-reach to call him a "lobbyist" without qualification; more circumspect sources indicate he did work that looked like lobbying but stop just short of labeling him as such; and rm source for "republican" (seems obvious enough))

(cur | prev) 19:50, 7 August 2012‎ Rrius (talk | contribs)‎ . . (38,623 bytes) (+530)‎ . . (→‎United States Senator: headings; fleshes out committee assignments)

(cur | prev) 18:50, 7 August 2012‎ Clearlyfakeusername (talk | contribs)‎ . . (37,812 bytes) (-18)‎ . . (→‎2011 Michigan Law School commencement speaker: Added link to DOMA. DOMA is not a constitutional amendment, and portions of it have been found unconstitutional. If it were a constitutional amendment, it would be inherently constitutional.)

(cur | prev) 18:18, 7 August 2012‎ Abb3w (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (40,601 bytes) (+6)‎ . . (→‎North American Free Trade Agreement: existing citations do not appear to include lauds)

(cur | prev) 18:00, 7 August 2012‎ ItsZippy (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (40,969 bytes) (0)‎ . . (Protected Rob Portman: Numerous disruptive & unsourced edits from IP and non-confirmed users. (‎[edit=autoconfirmed] (expires 18:00, 14 August 2012 (UTC))))

(cur | prev) 20:32, 5 August 2012‎ 74.92.149.94 (talk)‎ . . (33,713 bytes) (+5)‎ . . (Removed loaded term "lobbyist" to reflect actual material of linked article.)

(cur | prev) 02:51, 31 July 2012‎ River8009 (talk | contribs)‎ . . (33,708 bytes) (-1,530)‎ . . (Nafta vote doesn't merit own section in a 2-section discussion of his 12yr congressional career. 1 of 1000s of votes, majority of congress voted that way, he did other things during his tenure that were more significant. Could be re-added as a sentence)

(cur | prev) 16:15, 13 July 2012‎ MastCell (talk | contribs)‎ . . (35,208 bytes) (+198)‎ . . (note reputation for working across the aisle, per source)

(cur | prev) 16:14, 13 July 2012‎ MastCell (talk | contribs)‎ . . (35,010 bytes) (+452)‎ . . (briefly note service in GHWBush administration with source)

[CJCRANE]

3. Interesting....nt

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

4. I definitely think Portman's the guy.

[JPZenger]

5. I remember when Santorum's wiki page had hundreds of changes every day.

It was entertaining to read the list of the changes that were occurring when Santorum was at his peak. A number simply involving removing the definition of Santorum, and then someone putting it back again one minute later.

[Wait Wut]

6. And...I heard last nite (Maddow?) that Romney...

...was making a bizarre U-turn back to Ohio during his 'bus tour'.

Odds lookin' good for anyone that bet on Portman.

[spanone]

7. hey portman, where the fuck are mitt romney's tax returns????

[NightWatcher]

8. White/Whiter 2012

love the fake smiles guys

[Cali_Democrat]

17. They clearly have no interest in appealing to anybody but angry white males.

People like the Sikh temple shooter.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

20. old fashioned hair squared

[klook]

29. Old fashioned squares. (n/t)

[drm604]

9. K&R

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

10. Well, I don't think Portman would upstage Romney in the charisma department

Dull and Duller - the most uninteresting man on earth would of course pick the second most uninteresting.

[Lint Head]

11. Great catch!

[Blue Meany]

12. I already thought so because under any scenario in which Romney wins he needs

to carry his state...

[Speck Tater]

13. Let's see if we can make "Rob Portman" spike on Yahoo hot searches

and add fuel to the rumor. hehe.

[sadbear]

14. fox news is begging, pleading, for it to be Paul Ryan.

Personally, I think they should stick them in The Octagon and the guy who walks out gets to be the running mate.

[aquart]

32. My god, I agree with Fox!

I'm begging for it to be Ryan, too.

[starroute]

15. There might be some dirt available on his America's Majority Trust

I don't find much on Portman in my files, but in 2002 he created a PAC called America's Majority Trust to help the GOP keep control of the House of Representatives.

He was then chairman of the House Republican leadership and a liaison to the White House and had helped put on major fund-raising events that brought in millions for the party.

There was a whole lot of dirty money floating around during that election cycle, and some of Portman's donors had Jack Abramoff connections -- including Neil Volz (who donated both to the PAC and to Portman himself) and the Agua Caliente tribe.

Portman was then appointed the Bush administration's trade representative in recognition of his services.

I realize this isn't much, but the guy has been pretty low-profile.

[aquart]

16. Except for the anti-gay stuff. But the wiki seems proud of that.

[nc4bo]

18. Portman + Patton Boggs + Abramoff?

Patton Boggs, LLC + Abramoff

+

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2006/07/the_daily_muck_97.php

Patton Boggs served as the legal counsel for Scanlon’s firm for most of his criminal run, apparently helping set up some of the contracts engineered with the tribal clients he and Abramoff bilked for some $40 million. Less than three weeks before the scandal broke in Washington, Patton Boggs lawyers sent a threatening letter to one of the tribes, the Saginaw Chippewa of Michigan, accusing it of a “serious breach” in refusing to pay an additional $2.8 million to Scanlon.

… Patton Boggs declined any comment about the work it performed for Scanlon, who paid the law firm more than $116,000… . Edelman declined to comment[.]

Muckety Map for Patton-Boggs:

http://www.muckety.com/Patton-Boggs-LLP/5010106.muckety

Ok - I guess to DUers who have been around a while, the webs in this firm is probably no big deal but just clicking around on names, corporations, countries, etc. and looking at the various relationships is mind numbing. I almost feel like I want to shower after so many clicks.

Imagine these people having a seat in the people's WH?

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. Bravo!!! for you, finding the good stuff so fast.

I love it. In less than 24 hours, DU ers have gone from figuring out a tell for a likely candidate to finding all ghosts in his past.
THAT is why I budget for membership here..only Talking Points Memo does it better, and TPM started out as a bunch of folks like us investigating stories, digging up info and posting it.(remember the attorneygate scandal way back when Bush was fiing the US Attorneys?).

Well done, I say.

[nc4bo]

26. dixiegrrrrl - This firm is like the head of Medusa....

R's and D's. Fingers in every pie. Like the firm in the movie The Devil's Advocate.

[dixiegrrrrl]

33. And Erik Prince is no longer in the headlines. God knows what he is up to.

[BlueinOhio]

24. His staff visited where I work recently

They will use the loan guarantee for USEC unless it gets publicized that only the sectary of treasury and the head of the OBM can sign it. He either did not rubber stamp it or it maybe he resigned so he would not have to face the music in his own district.(He was over the OBM at the time). Just in case he would be nodded at at for the presidency. Some vague family problems I believe was the reason. Just a thought the company started using Portman forklifts after he was elected as representative. Note in case no one thinks this is important Gore lost in a strong democrat district because it was seen that he did not support workers in Ohio.
Also Washington post had an article about him that did not run in the state of Ohio. The GAO found that there was a surplus in social security (funny how they always say its running out of money) because blue collar workers die before they can collect benefits. So Portman great plan was that the companies can just reduce the percentage of benefits of the workers they think will die so they could save money. True republican no thought has to worker safety or health care to improve the workers chance of living.

[TheAmbivalante]

19. EXCELLENT POST

Anybody scrubbing their house is getting ready for a party.
Great find!

[MannyGoldstein]

21. Mitt's page has way more each day

Just to keep up with his changing positions throughout the day.

Hard work!

[LoisB]

22. Lest we forget, he was also W.'s budget director.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

25. Let's go back...........

to the future!!!!

[dsharp88]

34. This needs to be voiced loudly, clearly, and often!

[marble falls]

27. They don't even like Portman, let alone Romney in Ohio.

[Historic NY]

28. What no dirt in his wiki.

[LonePirate]

30. Portman is down 11 cents today as of now on Intrade.

http://www.intrade.com/v4/markets/contract/?contractId=744236

You can pick up some shares of him for $3.07.

[aquart]

31. I'm still scared it'll be Chris Christie whose wiki edits are minimal.

But what if we know better than Intrade? Why, we could clean up. Intrade's a political casino, right?

[starroute]

35. He's also got a reputation as a big free trade agreement guy

This has been the case both in his Congressional career and as the Bush trade representative. It might not be an effective issue, since Obama and the Democrats also promote free trade agreements -- though they do try to add provisions to protect workers and the environment -- but it does keep coming up. And it would play into Romney's outsourcer-in-chief image.

http://economyincrisis.org/content/rob-portman-gets-blasted-free-trade-record

March 19, 2010

The Ohio Democratic Party, with an assist from labor leaders and fair trade advocates, began their assault Wednesday on Rob Portman, the leading U.S. Senate candidate in the Republican primary, highlighting his past support for job-killing free trade agreements, according to The Youngstown Business Journal Daily. . . .

As a member of the Ohio House delegation, Portman supported free trade pacts with Central America, Australia, Singapore and Chile. He voted against withdrawing from the World Trade Organization and in favor of providing the president with even greater power to negotiate free trade agreements. He steadfastly opposed extending aid to those displaced because of free trade policies.


http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/276500/gop-senators-urge-action-trade-agreements-betsy-woodruff

September 7, 2011

Senate Republicans have slammed President Obama for holding up three free-trade agreements, despite the administration’s own estimates that ratifying the deals could create up to 250,000 new jobs. . . .

Many believe the delay in passing the agreements is reducing America’s market share in South Korea, which entered a trade agreement with the European Union in July. In that month alone, EU exports to South Korea increased by more than 36 percent, while American exports increased by only 2.5 percent, according to Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio).

Meanwhile, Portman said, Canada is cutting into America’s market share in Colombia, thanks to a new free-trade agreement between the two countries. “We need to move, and move quickly, before we lose even more market share,” he said.

The agreements were negotiated with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea during the Bush administration.

[sarcasmo]

36. A close associate of the Bush family, imagine.

[1-Old-Man]

37. Did you see Steve Corbet last night?

He called on his audience to go to the Wiki pages for the various VP hopefuls and to edit the hell out of them. Maybe some did.

[woo me with science]

38. Verrrrry interesting.

Keep this kicked!

[Sheepshank]

40. How circular is this? Footnote #11 on Wiki leads to this NPS article

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/08/07/158320294/one-clue-to-romneys-veep-pick-whose-wiki-page-is-getting-the-most-edits

[nc4bo]

41. One never knows does one.

I'd put nothing past these rat bastards, not even another rat.

Wanted to add, if nothing else (Boggs & Patton, LLP, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey and I'm sure dozens of others) learned from this expedition, is that the tentacles of the 1% run very, very deep into our political processes.

The People have no true representatives. And honestly, I have no clue on what to do about it.

[MineralMan]

42. Yah, I'm thinking they're readying the page for

millions of hits, once the announcement is made. Making sure every i is dotted, and that sort of thing. Making the candidate look, well, VP-ish.

On the other hand, Pawlenty's site has been updated many times, too, most recently today, about the time of the last Portman update.

We shall see.