Rob Portman: The Best of the Boring White Guys

May 16 (Bloomberg) -- The minute Senator Rob Portman, theRepublican from Ohio who helped Mitt Romney win his state’sprimary, walked into the room, I knew that he would be theRepublican vice presidential candidate.

As he conceded proudly, he is a Boring White Guy, which isthe phrase of the moment after “a Republican official familiarwith the campaign’s thinking” told Politico that’s what Romneyis looking for in a running mate. (The actual phrase was“incredibly boring white guy,” but for our purposes the initialsBWG will suffice.) What could be more perfect? Every steel-grayhair is the right length and in place. The blue shirt isunrumpled. He doesn’t try to talk and eat lunch at the sametime. He couldn’t be more affable and well spoken.