Portman: No plans to meet Romney

CONCORD, N.H. – Was he or wasn’t he? Did he or didn’t he?

Maybe, and no, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told reporters for the umpteenth time Saturday after he showed up for a GOP fundraiser in the same state as Mitt Romney, who is said to be considering him as a vice presidential nominee.

As he has done consistently, Portman declined to say whether he was being vetted by the Romney campaign. He said he had not met with Romney in New Hampshire and had no plans to do so. He said he does plan to meet with former President George H.W. Bush in Maine today.

Romney has been on vacation in Wolfeboro, N.H., for the past week, and is widely presumed to have spent time mulling his vice presidential choice. When the New Hampshire GOP announced that Portman would be in Concord, about an hour away, it stirred speculation that the senator might be planning a stealth visit to Romney’s summer house, which is sufficiently secluded that it is all but impossible to know who is coming or going.

But Portman said he was in New Hampshire for two reasons: first, to take his 17-year-old daughter on a college tour (including to his alma mater, Dartmouth) and second, to speak at the fundraiser. He also plans to speak at two Romney fundraisers in Boston on Monday.