As Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum face off Tuesday in delegate-rich Illinois, Santorum appears to be taking pages from "the Obama campaign's playbook" to shape his attacks on Romney, says John Dickerson at Slate. For example, Santorum recently called Romney out for his history of flip-flopping, saying Mitt "has no core" — a line that President Obama's top strategist David Axelrod first used last October. Team Santorum has also thumped Romney with a "Democratic talking point" casting Romney's Bain Capital career as one of ruthless capitalism gone awry. Will this ape-the-Democrats strategy be effective?
No. This hurts Romney and Santorum: Santorum isn't concerned with how difficult it might be for Romney to beat Obama in a general election, but "by parroting the administration's critique, [Santorum] lends weight to their claims," says John Dickerson at Slate. Surely "the Obama team will be ready to hit 'replay'" on these Santorum clips when the president faces off with Romney. And if Santorum somehow becomes the nominee, he'll have created a major headache for himself: Any bit of agreement with the Obama campaign will be used against him.
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