No, if that were the case, they would have gone after him long ago. I think they have been brought kicking and screaming.
The Boston Globe HAS been after Romney for over a decade, ever since he challenged that paper’s hero and prince, Senator Kennedy. Regardless of what one thinks of Romney as a candidate for national office, he has been the nemesis of the Globe as a Massachusetts figure , especially relative to Governor Weld and the line of more moderate governors who followed him (Weld).