Enemies and Allies for ‘Friends’

When it comes to sitting for interviews Mitt Romney is not usually a willing and eager subject. But there is one invitation he rarely turns down. “Fox & Friends” has had Romney as a guest 21 times in the last year. That’s almost twice a month, vastly more than the four times each he has appeared on NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America,” which draw five times the audience.

Romney is hardly alone in recognizing the power of “Fox & Friends” as a high-decibel megaphone pointing directly at the Republican base. At the height of the primaries not a week went by without an appearance by one of the candidates. And when leading Republicans like Gov. Rick Scott of Florida or Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin have something to say, they do it on “Fox & Friends.” It is easy to see why. Perhaps more than any other show on the Fox News Channel, “Fox & Friends” has become a powerful platform for some of the most strident attacks on President Barack Obama. The question that hangs over Fox News as the presidential campaign moves into full swing: How far can it push its coverage of President Obama without sparking another war with the White House?