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Six of the major Republican presidential candidates stopped by Fox News on Saturday night to field questions from Mike Huckabee and some GOP state attorneys general. The exchanges weren’t terribly newsworthy, but something transpired behind the scenes that spoke to a larger trend.
Fox News allowed a New York Times reporter to roam around before, during, after the interviews, covering how the candidates and their teams operated. One campaign “stood out by going into defensive mode immediately, insisting that the reporter stay far away.”
[Mitt] Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, was the last to arrive at the Fox News offices in Midtown Manhattan. He came in with his wife, Ann, and a smattering of aides and travel staff, and they quickly settled into a small conference room near the 12th-floor studio.
Spotting the reporter, Mr. Romney’s aides sprang into action, questioning where he worked and what he was doing there, and then insisting that he not physically approach Mr. Romney before or after he was questioned on television by the attorneys general and Mr. Huckabee.
The request was reiterated to executives at Fox News.
Romney’s aversion to media professionals is making the transition from an oddity to a problem. Indeed, the political press will put up with quite a bit, but it really doesn’t like being ignored, and Romney has apparently invited a backlash.
Romney is inaccessible even by the tightly scripted standards of the contemporary campaign bubble: Not only is the candidate kept at arms length from reporters, the campaign typically responds to the news media only when it feels it is in its interest. Inconvenient questions are met with silence. […]
“This is a very poor media operation,” one political director for a leading cable news network complained to POLITICO. “The lack of response to any media request is very frustrating. At least you should acknowledge calls and emails — in their case, it’s like a black hole.”
Romney and his team were “completely accessible” in 2008, when the candidate was eager to raise his national profile, but this year, they’ve gone to the other extreme. Romney felt like he could get away with it — Republican voters already knew him; his rivals were incompetent, and his media-blackout strategy didn’t derail his frontrunner status.
But as the race intensifies, Romney’s don’t-bother-me-with-questions approach is looking far less sound. He’s suddenly in a tough race with Newt Gingrich, and even like-minded media outlets like Fox are pushing back against his refusal to speak to them.
“I think the zeitgeist moment that you’re seeing this week is Romney’s strategy beginning to backfire on him,” Joe Klein told Politico.
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c u n d gulag on December 05, 2011 8:07 AM:
What's Mitt afraid of?
That if they get closer to him, the press might find he's but a vacuous older rich kid whose next original thought will be his first?
Oh!
RepublicanPointOfView on December 05, 2011 8:14 AM:
Mittens needs to revise his campaign strategy for dealing with the liberal media.
He needs to emulate George W. Bush's successful strategy of allowing full and unfettered access by the liberal media and allowing them to ask any questions they want and never answering the actual questions asked.
Danp on December 05, 2011 8:15 AM:
If you're not prepared to answer questions like, "Do you support the Republican referendum that you came to support?", you're simply not prepared for prime time.
c u n d gulag on December 05, 2011 8:22 AM:
Republican POV,
Maybe Mitt can do Little Boots Bush one better and create "Free Press Zones" for the news he doesn't like?
LosGatosCA on December 05, 2011 9:17 AM:
Two thoughts for Romney:
1. The Meg Whitman press model does not work. $150M didn't make it work.
2. Romney is going to have to turn up his pandering to 12 or maybe even 15, very soon, yesterday even. You need the press' stenography capabilities on your side. Gingrich is proving daily that you don't have to make sense, have any sense of shame or self-awareness. He's a Georgia teacher's college tenure denied academic drop out who thinks he's too smart to lead America. Before him it was Cain, Perry, Bachmann, Trump. None of these people made any sense either. There's Ron Paul, spouting a nonsensical idea a minute.
No, Romney should not be pushing out the press, he should welcome them. Put on his car dealer who cares persona and let 'er rip. Either he wins or he loses trying. Complaining about tough questions at Faux News is like blaming your mother for your problems. No body loves you more than your mom, if she's sending you a message better pay attention and stop your sniveling like some little girl who's misplaced her doll.
Kathryn on December 05, 2011 9:59 AM:
Romney is in deep trouble in my opinion. He simply does not come across well, he has an entitled attitude among many other irritating traits. Gingrich is a horrible person; however, the Republican base, who can be fooled by so dim a bulb as Herman Cain, will warm to his wordy attacking style, making sense, any accuracy in remarks mot required. He scares me, hopefully his tendency to destroy himself will come into play, The words arrogant and haughty were invented for him.
ShadeTail on December 05, 2011 11:05 AM:
I find it disgusting that a major election, in this case the GOP primary, could essentially be decided by press figures having a temper tantrum. Alas, it can be, and it isn't new. If the press hadn't so blithely spread the Bush campaign's propaganda, the 2000 and 2004 general elections could very likely have swung the other way.
royalblue_tom on December 05, 2011 11:06 AM:
He's rich enough to follow the McCain press strategy - keep em plied with free booze and run an unlimited time off the record charm the press offensive.
Th on December 05, 2011 12:30 PM:
I agree with Kathryn. The more we see of Romney, the less I am convinced he will win the nomination. Obama is incredibly lucky. The rest of the field is an even worse joke.
Anonymous on December 05, 2011 1:17 PM:
"...the political press will put up with quite a bit, but it really doesn’t like being ignored..."
...in that specific Glenn Close kind of way.
square1 on December 05, 2011 2:03 PM:
Actually, I think the political press just doesn't respect Mitt, senses weakness, and is trying to bully him.
The press is remarkably inconsistent when it comes to these issues. As you recall, the Clinton administration had a frosty relationship with the press. This was blamed on the WH closing off part of the press secretary office to the press. However, when the Bush Administration told the press to fuck off, the press accepted it without complaint.
Similarly, when other GOP candidates, and Sarah Palin, treat the press like pond scum and deny the press access, the press doesn't fight. The journalists know that if they pick a fight with Palin, the GOP base will rally to Palin's defense and rip any complaining journalist a new asshole.
But since Romney has no such support from the party base, the press is basically taunting him.