In all the sniping and attacking over special interests involved in this election cycle, especially in Ohio, one group has gone curiously unnoticed in all the talk of Chambers of Commerce, Wall Street/labor union cronyism and the ever-popular ‘turfing of both Oprah and astro varieties.

Yet curiously unnoticed in the Senate race, where Lee Fisher has been going on a strange reverse-McCarthyite witch hunt to make sure no capitalists are hiding under anyone’s bed, is the fact that Republican candidate Rob Portman’s own PAC, the Ohio Future PAC, has been making substantial contributions to GOP candidates in order to get Portman’s message across. Indeed, according to one Republican with close knowledge of Ohio PAC spending, Portman’s group has donated $2,000 to 14 of the 18 candidates for a congressional seat in Ohio, and to Steve Chabot, who received $5,000. Moreover, Portman has been putting his money into the Governors’ race, too, with $9,000 going to John Kasich alone, and roughly $24,000 going to other state executive races.

Asked for comment, Portman campaign manager Bob Paduchik told Battle ‘10, “Rob Portman has supported fellow Republicans both financially and on the campaign trail so no one should be surprised. Even when he’s running Rob insists on doing whatever he can to elect conservative pro-jobs candidates.”

This is a rarity for a competitive candidate, obviously, and it makes Portman one of the few non-self funders to allow his own PAC money to be used on other candidates. Clearly there is a broader vision at work here than simply his own election, but as to what that broader vision is…we will all have to wait and see.