The other day, someone from Team Romney told me something that essentially boiled down to this: We don’t want to do what we’re going to have to do to Rick Santorum in his home state — if he stays in the race.
Politicians and political folks spin the press (even on background), but this seemed sincere. It was almost a plea for Santorum to get out — a plea for him save everybody the trouble of embarrassing him in his own home state.
I believe them. There is a very real chance that Mitt Romney will, in fact, have to eviscerate Rick Santorum in three weeks — just to end this thing. And as Seinfeld might say: “That’s not going to be good for anybody.” It could get ugly. On “Morning Joe” this morning, John Heilemann even suggested Romney would turn Pennsylvania into Dresden.
