Fox’s Chris Wallace calls out Mitt Romney for Sunday show absence

Four GOP hopefuls hit the Sunday talk shows this week, a roster that did not include ostensible front-runner Mitt Romney.

The absence was pointedly noted by “Fox News Sunday’s” Chris Wallace, who concluded his one-on-one interview with Texas Gov. Rick Perry with a not particularly subtle shot at the former Massachusetts governor.

“With Gov. Perry’s appearance, we have now interviewed all the major Republican candidates in our 2012 one-on-one series except Mitt Romney. He has not appeared on any Sunday talk show since March of 2010,” Wallace said.

“We invited Gov. Romney, but his campaign says he’s still not ready to sit down for an interview,” he added.

Blogger Moe Lane of the conservative site RedState said Wallce’s dig should be taken seriously by the Romney camp, lest he appear as lacking the confidence to submit to an in-depth interview.

In addition to Perry’s segment on “Fox News Sunday,” several other Republican candidates made talk show appearances: Rep. Michele Bachmann on ABC’s “This Week” with Christiane Amanpour, Herman Cain on CBS’ “Face the Nation” with Bob Schieffer and Rep. Ron Paul on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Candy Crowley.

melanie.mason@latimes.com

melanie.mason@latimes.com