Can Rick Santorum win by 'parroting' Team Obama?

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.

"Why Rick Santorum and David Axelrod agree about Mitt Romney"

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But you can't expect Santorum to reinvent the wheel: "It's hardly surprising that Santorum and Obama's criticism of Romney would merge," says Alex Roarty at National Journal. It doesn't take a "political savant" to know that Romney's past flip-flops are a vulnerability. Santorum and Obama both see Mitt as the enemy, and we shouldn't be shocked that their critiques of him are similar.

"Rick Santorum: Barack Obama's new best friend"

Who cares? Santorum is toast: The polls are predicting a big win in Illinois for Romney, says Ed Kilgore at Washington Monthly. Santorum is getting outspent and out-hustled, in a state where the electorate favors the more moderate Romney. "Rick just needs to take his bad beating and move on," and pray that the media "doesn't suddenly decide it's all over" for him.

"Rick's car breaks down in a bad neighborhood"