On Monday night, Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire CEO of News Corporation, endorsed former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum via Twitter, calling him the "only candidate with genuine big vision for country." Murdoch isn't alone in Tweeting about Santorum, as the Washington Post social media measuring tool @mentionmachine reports that Santorum has been mentioned over 50,000 times on Twitter in the last week.
[See the latest political cartoons.]
It's unclear how much the endorsement from the controversial conservative media mogul will have on Santorum's quixotic campaign. In 2008, after briefly considering endorsing Hillary Clinton, Murdoch stopped just short of endorsing Barack Obama, whom he called "a rock star." Many were surprised that Murdoch (the owner Fox News) would heap praise on a liberal candidate, but he came to his conservative senses later in the campaign, acknowledging that he played a role in the New York Post's decision to support John McCain.
But no matter what happens in Iowa, there won't be any time to rest. Once the results are in, the top candidates will make their cases in nationally televised speeches tonight and the knives will be out to cut funds from the lower-tier finishers.
[See pictures of the 2012 GOP candidates.]
By Wednesday, fledgling candidates will likely drop out, leaving some of the remaining hopefuls to state their cases in back-to-back debates in New Hampshire this weekend.
Reader Comments