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Amid ongoing speculation that Mitt Romney might choose Rob Portman to be his running mate, Ohians close to the Republican senator are bullish about the possibility that their favorite son could join a national ticket. Robert Bennett, the longtime chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, is one of them. For months, Bennett has lobbied Romney's campaign staffers to choose Portman, who he says would take "Ohio out of play." "I've done everything I could to put him in that position myself," Bennett told Yahoo News during a recent interview at the Republican National Committee headquarters. "I've talked to the Romney campaign." Bennett's pitch on Portman's behalf to the Romney campaign is four-fold: 1. Ohio is a must-win state. Bennett contends that Portman would give Republicans a 3- to 5-point boost in Ohio, a crucial swing state that early indicators suggest will be closely divided in November. So far, however, recent polls show that a Romney-Portman...