The TicketMitt Romney woos Fox News viewers ahead of primary battle
Mitt Romney has had limited interactions with reporters in recent months as he makes his second bid for the Republican presidential nomination, but he's recently shifted that strategy when it comes to Fox News, appearing on the network four times in the last week.
In perhaps the most obvious sign of his strategy tweak, Romney will make his first Sunday morning news show appearance in nearly two years—sitting down with Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace in an interview set to air on Dec. 18.
Asked about his decision to appear on Fox News Sunday by Fox host Neil Cavuto in an interview Tuesday, Romney said it was a part of his "closing argument" to Republicans ahead of next month's elections.
"I'll be on FOX a lot because you guys matter when it comes to Republican primary voters," Romney told Cavuto. "I want them to hear my message and have an opportunity to make their choice."
Indeed, Romney's 2012 fate could lie in the hands of Fox News viewers—and there are hints he faces an uphill battle with them.
As the New York Times' Michael Shear writes, a NYT/CBS News poll of likely caucus-goers in Iowa finds that nearly 40 percent of those surveyed get the majority of their news from the network. And among Fox News viewers, nearly half of them are backing Newt Gingrich, who appears regularly on the network, while just 12 percent are backing Romney.
The poll's overall results hint at the increasingly uphill battle Romney may have in appealing to Iowa voters ahead of next month's caucuses. And it's unclear if Romney is facing similar struggles among Fox News viewers in other key early voting states, including New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.
But Romney's uptick in appearances on the network suggests his campaign doesn't want to risk alienating a key voting dynamic as he moves to challenge Gingrich's sudden surge in the polls.
Still, some supporters are wondering if it's too little, too late. A former Romney 2008 staffer who is not officially affiliated with the ex-governor's 2012 bid but continues to informally advise the campaign told Yahoo News that Romney's overall media strategy has done him a "disservice."
"(His campaign) hasn't let Romney be himself," the former Romney aide, who declined to be named so as not to inflame the campaign, told Yahoo News. "Instead of letting Romney explain himself and his positions, they've let others define him, and I don't know how you undo that damage in a month."
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