Speaking at an outdoor rally held on a wind-swept and chilly patio at the Toledo Public Library, Biden said that “the irony of ironies” is as White House budget director and U.S. trade representative under former President George W. Bush, Portman was the “architect” of many of Bush’s economic policies.
“I personally like Ted’s opponent, but my Lord, he was the architect of the policy,” Biden told the crowd of a few hundred.
Biden’s stop in Toledo was part of a three-city blitz by the vice president as Democrats try to boost voter turnout in this crucial state. Polls show Clinton and Trump are engaged in a tight contest in a state Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump absolutely must win to have chance of assembling the 270 electoral votes he needs to win the presidency.
But Biden devoted a good chunk of his speech to delivering sharp criticism of Portman, who is leading Strickland in the latest polls. Pointing out the Detroit “automobile industry was flat on its back” when President Barack Obama took office in 2009, Biden said Strickland and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio pushed hard for a federal financial rescue of General Motors and Chrysler.
By contrast, Biden said, Portman called the 2009 rescue a “lousy deal to be precise,” implying that Portman opposed the $79.6 billion rescue package.
Portman, who was not in office at the time the Obama administration launched the bailout, said during a 2010 U.S. Senate debate against Democrat Lee Fisher, he “would have liked to have seen more conditions” because billions of dollars in “taxpayer money went to a private entity that the government essentially took over and then they closed four plants here in Ohio.”
“So, if I had been in office at the time I would have supported it, but I would have been sure that Ohio didn’t fall behind,” Portman said during the debate.
Michawn Rich, Portman’s campaign spokeswoman, said Monday, “As Ted Strickland continues his embarrassing retirement tour after national Democrats abandoned his campaign, 14 out of 15 Ohio newspapers, unions, and voters across the state are rallying behind Rob because of his record of getting results for Ohio workers and their families.”
Rich said Portman “has consistently said he would have voted for the auto rescue but would have pushed for improvements to protect Delphi salaried retirees and protect the auto plants and dealerships that shut down in Ohio during Governor Strickland’s tenure.”
Earlier in the day after speaking before a medical summit hosted by the Cleveland Clinic, Biden surprised a group of Democratic volunteers at a nearby Clinton campaign office. According to a pool report filed by a reporter, the stunned volunteers burst into applause.
Biden spoke for about 15 minutes, making clear his disdain for Trump, saying, “We all know the nightmare of a Trump presidency.”
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