10:19 a.m. | Updated Rupert Murdoch is offering some unsolicited advice to the Romney campaign. Saying he met the candidate last week, Mr. Murdoch, the head of the News Corporation, suggested Sunday on Twitter that Mr. Romney may have to shed some of his current staff and replace them in order to go up against “Tough O Chicago Pros” — no doubt a reference to President Obama‘s campaign team, which is based in that city.
Met Romney last week.Tough O Chicago pros will be hard to beat unless he drops old friends from team and hires some real pros. Doubtful.
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012
Mr. Murdoch, of course, controls Fox News, a favored spot for influential Republicans including Mr. Romney himself. And it is not the first time the media baron has chimed in on Twitter with some musings on the presidential campaign and the candidates. He once chided Mr. Obama on the antipiracy front, for instance, and predicted Rick Santorum‘s strong showing in Iowa. On his Sunday Twitter burst, Mr. Murdoch also gave a more neutral take on the president, saying the election would be “referendum on Obama, all else pretty minor.”
US election is referendum on Obama, all else pretty minor.
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012
During the previous presidential election in 2008 Mr. Murdoch remained elusive on which candidate he liked, though he sent some signals that he may have preferred Mr. Obama. Speaking at the annual All Things Digital Conference in 2008 sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, a subsidiary of News Corporation which is controlled by Mr. Murdoch, he said of Mr. Obama, “He is a rock star,” adding, “he’ll probably win it.”
Mr. Murdoch then went on to say that Republican candidate at the time, John McCain, was a “patriot and a decent guy, but he’s unpredictable and he doesn’t know much about the economy, adding, “I think he has a lot of problems.”
Though originally giving strong praise for Mr. Santorum when he was still running for the Republican Party’s nomination, Mr. Murdoch has since offered mainly lukewarm words toward Mitt Romney. Mr. Murdoch recently took to Twitter to criticize Mr. Romney’ immigration policy. His message said: “When is Romney going to look like a challenger? Seems to play everything safe, make no news except burn off Hispanics.” When asked by one of his Twitter followers what he thought of the Mormon religion, Mr. Murdoch called it “a mystery to me, but Mormons certainly not evil.”
On Monday, Mr. Murdoch was back on Twitter again, this time saying he had heard from the Romney campaign and wants Mr. Romney to win to “save us from socialism.”
Romney people upset at me!Of course I want him to win, save us from socialism, etc but should listen to good advice and get stuck in!
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 2, 2012
Taylor Arluck contributed reporting.
