The American Federation of Teachers have released an ad reminding voters of Ohio Sen. Rob Portman's long history of working to privatize Social Security—a claim his spokesperson, Michwan Rich, is adamantly denying:

  She also stated that Portman has "never voted to privatize Social Security nor has he ever supported privatizing Social Security," a claim that is at odds with a 2010 Politifact story stating that the senator was a "privatization champion."

Specifically, that Ohio Politifact story called it "indisputable" that Portman supported private retirement accounts.

  It is indisputable that Portman supported Bush's proposal to allow Americans to put part of their Social Security contributions into private accounts. Americans would be able to invest in stocks, bonds, government securities or stay out of the accounts entirely.

 "I mean, this is what Einstein talked about, the magic, the greatest force in the universe, the power of compounding interest," Portman, then a congressman, said in a House Budget Committee hearing in 2005. "That's what we're talking about here."

Portman has been a study over the years in avoiding use of the specific word "privatization," but he has consistently championed efforts that moved toward private savings and away from government-managed retirement accounts. In 1999, he sponsored a measure that pushed the creation of workplace pensions plans, saying "While we need Social Security reform, we need to go well beyond that." And as White House budget director for George W. Bush from 2006-2007, Portman's job was to find a way to move Democrats in the direction of privatization after Bush's original proposal fell flat.

As a Dec. 6, 2006, National Journal article noted, Portman and his colleagues were in "listening mode" with Congressional Democrats to "gauge what the market will bear on Social Security."

 Their message: Everything's on the table, and that means that nothing's off.

In other words, privatization, among other things, was on the table because it certainly wasn't off the table.

Portman is splitting hairs when he says he hasn't championed "privatizing” Social Security. Whether you frame the debate in terms of “private accounts” or “privatization,” the effect is the same and Portman has been moving in that direction since at least 1999.