Early on much was made of Senator Hillary Clinton’s relationship with conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Last week much was also assumed by Murdoch’s paper The New York Post endorsing Barack Obama. Was it a sign of a breach in their relationship? Was it Murdoch’s personal belief that Republicans would have a better chance running against a perceived lightweight in Obama? Nobody really knows but there is plenty of speculation to go around.

David Carr at The New York Times looks over the complex and perhaps unknown relationship and Clinton’s sometimes half-hearted wooing of the paper and its owner.

As a senator, Mrs. Clinton did put time and effort into the care and feeding of the tabloid, making sure that Post reporters had access to news and expertise out of her office, along with the occasional scoop when it suited both parties. But she never once appeared before its editorial board — a customary act of tribute by local politicians — and her lack of deference was duly noted by the paper’s leadership.

Part of the cooling in the relationship, according to people involved on both sides, has to do with the realities of being a hometown paper. When Mrs. Clinton was serving and running as a senator, she had a relationship with the paper. But as her candidacy for president gathered momentum, The Post became just one more part of the media scrum, and the paper did not react well to the disregard.

When John Edwards announced that he would boycott the Fox News Channel debate last spring, Mrs. Clinton went along. Fox News and The Post are corporate siblings, although they’re not particularly close. Still, Mr. Murdoch certainly took note of the fact that the courtesies extended to Mrs. Clinton — a muted presence in the gossip columns of Page Six, more balance in the news pages — did not seem to be returned in kind.