As he's been doing for a while now, Chris Cillizza makes the case against Rob Portman:

McCain has very few options to re-energize the party base left to him between now and November. The clearest opportunity for him to create a spark is his choice of a running mate -- a moment when the full glare of the media spotlight will shine on McCain.

If, in that coveted moment, McCain picks -- wait for it....drumroll please -- "Rob Portman" there is the real possibility that he will have blown his one chance at re-orienting the race.

Portman is many things -- as we outlined in the case for him yesterday -- but he is neither well known nationally nor the sort of person who is going to get the base (or anyone else other than DC-based folks) particularly excited about the Republican ticket.

Portman is a guy who has spent his entire professional life either as a lawyer, staffer or politician. He's not the sort of choice -- like Joe Lieberman in 2000, for example -- that would dominate national news for days on end -- the sort of choice many Republican strategists believe McCain needs at the moment.

Portman, however, is a conservative favorite and choosing him would go a long way toward reassuring conservatives.