David Broder [Hearts] Rob Portman

David Broder concludes his hagiography of Rob Portman, a man he sees as conceivably "the Republican presidential nominee in 2016", with the statement,

[Democratic Lt. Gov. Lee] Fisher has tried repeatedly in this [U.S. Senate] campaign to portray Portman as the embodiment of everything wrong with the Republican Party -- a budgeter who created deficits and a trade czar who gave away jobs. Portman, thanks to his planning and his funding, appears to have won the argument with the public.

Is Broder still a journalist? Because if he is, I would have expected at least a nodding mention of the facts.

Also, given that this is Broder, where's the description of how Portman will bridge the ideological divide, reach across the aisle and usher in a new era of bipartisanship? Or is he quietly affirming that in his mind, bipartisanship actually means "Democrats making concessions."