By Carl Weiser
Enquirer Washington Bureau

ELECTION 2004

Convention coverage • First lady, Calif. gov home in on leadership • Portman takes advantage of convention speech • Dem Zell Miller enrages his party • Notes from New York • Convention blog watch • Convention photo gallery More election news • Election special section

NEW YORK - Outside a reception in a swank lakeside restaurant in Central Park, Rep. Rob Portman is, as usual, the ultimate multitasker.

He's simultaneously shaking hands with Ohio delegates as they walk in, conducting an interview with a film crew, even shifting effortlessly into Spanish to talk to a waitress carrying salmon canapes.

It's vintage Portman, the man many delegates here consider Ohio's best hope for national office. He gets brief prime-time national exposure tonight at the Republican National Convention, giving a three-minute speech at 8:45 p.m. on Ohio and the economy.

"I think it's important to have a conversation from the podium about Ohio and the economy," Portman said.

The gist of the speech: The economy is improving, and the Bush administration has a plan to make Ohio's economy better.

Portman has been using every minute of convention week to pitch both President Bush and himself. He's spoken at delegation breakfasts and been interviewed by Time magazine, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and a host of other media.

"I'm in a daze, going from one thing to another," said Portman, a Terrace Park Republican in his sixth term.

He's at the top parties: the one thrown by Bush's campaign chairman, Ken Mehlman, and Tuesday night's party with Vice President Dick Cheney. He's being honored tonight at Rockefeller Center's Rainbow Room, a party sponsored by a handful of companies, including Procter & Gamble and Fifth Third Bank.

"He's getting his name out," said Muskingum County's Republican chairman, Pat Hennessey. "People are getting to know him more."

Portman downplayed the speech itself, noting that he spoke at the 1996 Republican convention and it didn't do much for him or Bob Dole.

On Tuesday, Portman rehearsed his speech, which he said he wrote himself. He was given a few minutes to acclimate himself to the stage.

He planned to watch the first lady's speech Tuesday night from the president's box at Madison Square Garden.

"He'll be president one of these days. You can quote me on that," said Butler County's Republican chairman, Carlos Todd. "He's young, aggressive, knowledgeable, and he knows how to relate to middle America."

Exactly how Portman might get to the presidency is a little unclear. No openings are expected for U.S. senator or governor in Ohio until 2010. But adds Todd, "he's still a young man." Portman served in the first Bush White House and now is liaison to the second Bush White House and chairman of the House Republican leadership.

Portman, 48, said he plans on staying in the House during a second Bush term and ducks questions about his ultimate ambitions. But statewide office is clearly on the horizon.

"Rob's capable of being anything," said Michael Oestreicher, a Cincinnati lawyer and major Bush fund-raiser. Oestreicher's presence at the Central Park party Tuesday suggests another reason Portman will ascend: his fund-raising ability.

Portman has more money in his campaign fund than all but five other members of Congress - about $2.4 million and enough for an Ohio-wide campaign.

"I definitely think he has potential nationally," said Eileen Ford Simon, an alternate delegate from Montgomery.

"He's a wonderful young man of character," said Simon, 76. "I wish every congressional district had someone like that to represent them."

E-mail cweiser@gannett.com