Rupert Murdoch tweets his support for Rick Santorum as 80-year-old mogul experiments with social network
By HUGO GYE
Last updated at 5:43 AM on 3rd January 2012
As Rick Santorum continues his surprise climb up the polls, he has received support from an unexpected quarter - media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
The day before the Iowa caucuses, the News Corporation boss wrote on Twitter that 'all Iowans' should 'think about' supporting Mr Santorum in the Republican race.
While Mr Murdoch's endorsement may not count for quite as much since the phone-hacking scandal engulfed his company, it is still a rare accolade coming from one of the world's most powerful political figures.
The veteran businessman appeared to know that his opinion would cause controversy, as he prefaced the message by stating that he 'can't resist' posting it.
He then went even further in a message yesterday, saying: 'Can't resist this tweet, but all Iowans think about Rick Santorum. Only candidate with genuine big vision for country.'
The support seems unexpected, as Mr Santorum's socially conservative agenda has on the face of it little connection with Mr Murdoch's pro-business priorities.
And the Fox owner, while usually thought of as right-of-centre, is considered a moderate conservative whose newspapers have endorsed left-wing as well as right-wing politicians.
He first hinted at his admiration for Mr Santorum, the former Senator for Pennsylvania who is experiencing a late surge in support ahead of the Iowa contest, in a tweet on Sunday afternoon.
Mr Murdoch wrote: 'Good to see Santorum surging in Iowa. Regardless of policies, all debates showed principles, consistency and humility like no other.'
So Mr Santorum's campaign may welcome the news as evidence that their candidate can reach out beyond his conservative evangelical base and capture the more moderate voters whose support will be vital if he is to have a chance of winning the Republican nomination and the race for the White House.
There is one prior link between the candidate and the mogul, however: Mr Santorum worked for a time as a political analyst on Fox News, which is owned by News Corp, but left the station in order to launch his political campaign.
Mr Santorum is not the only politician to have attracted warm words from Mr Murdoch since he opened his Twitter account on New Year's Eve, and for the first time provided an unfiltered look at his personal opinions.
Mr Murdoch described Michael Bloomberg as 'New York's best mayor in memory', praised Scottish Nationalist party leader Alex Salmond, and even described Barack Obama as 'very courageous' for signing a bill to allow terror suspects to be detained indefinitely.
Other tweets from the 80-year-old mogul were focussed on promoting his companies' products, such as Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and various 20th Century Fox films.
But some got to the heart of what most people use Twitter for: inconsequential, off-the-cuff observations about the world around us.
'NY cold and empty, even Central Park,' read one message. 'Nice!'
By HUGO GYE
Last updated at 5:43 AM on 3rd January 2012
As Rick Santorum continues his surprise climb up the polls, he has received support from an unexpected quarter - media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
The day before the Iowa caucuses, the News Corporation boss wrote on Twitter that 'all Iowans' should 'think about' supporting Mr Santorum in the Republican race.
While Mr Murdoch's endorsement may not count for quite as much since the phone-hacking scandal engulfed his company, it is still a rare accolade coming from one of the world's most powerful political figures.
The veteran businessman appeared to know that his opinion would cause controversy, as he prefaced the message by stating that he 'can't resist' posting it.
He then went even further in a message yesterday, saying: 'Can't resist this tweet, but all Iowans think about Rick Santorum. Only candidate with genuine big vision for country.'
The support seems unexpected, as Mr Santorum's socially conservative agenda has on the face of it little connection with Mr Murdoch's pro-business priorities.
And the Fox owner, while usually thought of as right-of-centre, is considered a moderate conservative whose newspapers have endorsed left-wing as well as right-wing politicians.
He first hinted at his admiration for Mr Santorum, the former Senator for Pennsylvania who is experiencing a late surge in support ahead of the Iowa contest, in a tweet on Sunday afternoon.
Mr Murdoch wrote: 'Good to see Santorum surging in Iowa. Regardless of policies, all debates showed principles, consistency and humility like no other.'
So Mr Santorum's campaign may welcome the news as evidence that their candidate can reach out beyond his conservative evangelical base and capture the more moderate voters whose support will be vital if he is to have a chance of winning the Republican nomination and the race for the White House.
There is one prior link between the candidate and the mogul, however: Mr Santorum worked for a time as a political analyst on Fox News, which is owned by News Corp, but left the station in order to launch his political campaign.
Mr Santorum is not the only politician to have attracted warm words from Mr Murdoch since he opened his Twitter account on New Year's Eve, and for the first time provided an unfiltered look at his personal opinions.
Mr Murdoch described Michael Bloomberg as 'New York's best mayor in memory', praised Scottish Nationalist party leader Alex Salmond, and even described Barack Obama as 'very courageous' for signing a bill to allow terror suspects to be detained indefinitely.
Other tweets from the 80-year-old mogul were focussed on promoting his companies' products, such as Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and various 20th Century Fox films.
But some got to the heart of what most people use Twitter for: inconsequential, off-the-cuff observations about the world around us.
'NY cold and empty, even Central Park,' read one message. 'Nice!'