"As one of the architects of the top-down Bush budget, Portman practically invented the policies that punished middle-class families while exploding the deficit, and crashing our economy," Schultz wrote.

Portman, in the middle of the presidential campaign, even tried to distance himself from the Bush administration.

"I was frustrated when I was there about some spending issues --- specifically, as you know, I wanted to offer a balanced budget over five years, and a lot of people didn't," Portman said in an interview with the Hill Magazine. "I prevailed. The president sent his budget --- not my budget, his budget --- a five-year balanced budget. But it was a fight, internally."