Grassroots, money helped Portman to huge win

During the first focus group he organized for Rob Portman’s re-election bid, Portman’s campaign manager Corry Bliss listened for an hour, and then stepped out to make two calls: One to Portman and one to Bliss’ wife.

His message to both was identical. “We’re going to win,” he said.

That was March 2015. Portman’s name identification was questionable, and every poll that year would have him behind former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland. But on Tuesday, Bliss proved prescient: Portman won by 21 percentage points.

He did so by assembling one of the most organized Senate campaigns of the 2016 cycle, by raising a ton of money very early and by courting groups that Republicans traditionally don’t bother talking to.

“People liked Rob Portman when you exposed them to what Rob has done,” Bliss said. “They thought he was a breath of fresh air.”

During the 2016 cycle, Portman could have been felled by a controversial GOP presidential nominee, by a frustration with longtime Washington politicians, by an opponent with decades of experience and strong name recognition.

But Portman very early on decided he would run a campaign separate from the national presidential campaign, and in doing so he helped to turn what was once thought to be the banner Senate race in the nation to a shellacking. Democrats needed five seats to regain the Senate majority; they picked up only two.

Analysts put part of the blame on Strickland, saying he seemed content to lean on national and state Democrats rather than create his own organization. And they say his switch on issues such as guns — after decades of opposing further gun control measures he said he wanted further restrictions — left his blue-collar base feeling confused.

“Voters felt abandoned by him,” said Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report. “When he changed his positions on guns, when he changed his position on coal, a lot of union members felt that he had abandoned them.”

But writing off the victory to Strickland’s weaknesses ignores the strengths of Portman’s campaign and the power of money. Strickland tried early on to paint his Republican opponent as someone who says one thing and does another, but he couldn’t reinforce the message with ads and it didn’t stick.

Portman had strong fundraising right out of the gate, allowing him to spend $15 million on ads. A super PAC — Fighting for Ohio Fund — sprang up, devoted solely to his race. Outside right-leaning groups rallied to support him, pouring millions into the race. He recruited Bliss, a 34-year-old wunderkind who had just turned Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts’ 10-point deficit into a 10-point victory.

Portman, who had been on the short list for Mitt Romney’s running mates in 2012, had considered joining the crowded 2016 GOP presidential primary in the late months of 2014. But he spoke to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in early December 2014, and quickly announced he would run for Senate instead.

“He told me he was running,” Portman said of Bush, who was an early casualty of the Republican primaries. “And I was one of those people who wasn’t very accurate in my predictions. I figured if he got into it, he’d be the front-runner.”

The next month, Portman tapped Bliss to head his campaign, a decision that sent a message: He was taking his race very seriously.

“Right away, I said, ‘If I was going to run for Senate, let’s do it right,’” he said.

Portman also succeeded by reaching out to nontraditional groups.

Knowing the presidential race might be close, he courted unions, supporting pension bills that they have fought to pass. He secured the endorsement of the Teamsters, the United Mine Workers and the Fraternal Order of Police — a rare trifecta for a Republican.

He reached out to moderate women and possible Clinton voters, running ads during TV shows watched heavily by independent women.

And he reached out to the African-American community, running radio ads on stations that played rap and R and B, making him the one GOP outlier in a sea of Democratic advertising.

The combination led to a victory so decisive that Strickland called Portman minutes after the polls closed.

“The people who knew about Rob Portman liked Rob Portman,” Bliss said. “And they have to like you to vote for you.”

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