Rick Santorum Skips Network Morning Shows For Cable

By Alex Weprin 

GOP Presidential candidate Rick Santorum swept the two caucuses and one primary last night in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota. This morning he made the TV news rounds… sort of.

Santorum appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and CNN’s “Starting Point,” but not any of the three network morning shoes on NBC, ABC or CBS.

Why is that significant? The lowest-rated network morning show, “CBS This Morning” averaged more total viewers in January than “Starting Point,” “Fox & Friends” and “Morning Joe” combined. ABC and NBC have substantially more viewers than CBS.

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Why would Santorum forgo the popular network morning shows for the less-watched cable programs? The New York Times’ Brian Stelter probably has the right idea:

The cable shows have fewer viewers, but they tend to be heavy on political insiders and hardcore political junkies. Because Santorum is looking for a change in the media narrative of his campaign, appealing to insiders is the right move to make.

Going on “Today” might put him in front of five or six million regular Americans, but Santorum needs to have media “momentum” first.

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