As his conservative cable channel, Fox News, was airing Mitt Romney’s appearance at an Ohio rally yesterday, a tweet from Rupert Murdoch underscored a different sentiment among some Republicans to the confident predictions coming from the Republican campaign.
Mr Murdoch wrote that Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor who has staunchly supported Mr Romney but praised Mr Obama for his response to Hurricane Sandy, ought to “reaffirm” his support of Mr Romney or risk being blamed for another four years of Mr Obama.
All this underscores the difficulties that have confronted Mr Romney as he has sought to unite the sometimes fractious elements of his party behind his candidacy.
And it points to a challenge for a Romney administration: how to reach across the aisle to Democrats without alienating those Tea Party-backed Republicans who have opposed any efforts at compromise.
Erick Erickson, the conservative blogger from RedState.com, has written that he believed Mr Romney would win the election. But he also said that, no matter which candidate won, the world was going "downhill" regardless, and that he would find himself "at odds" with either president, though "more so" with Mr Obama.
It was a less-than-tepid statement on the importance of electing Mr Romney by a critical figure on the right with just days to go to the election, instead of a rallying cry for conservatives to get to the polls that Mr Romney would have appreciated. –
(Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012)
