It has already started, as Tom pointed out: Even by MI we were treated to the spectacle of Santorum robocalling MI Dems begging for their votes to stop Romney, despite once lambasting Democrats "spoiling" Republican primaries. Those must have been interesting calls; he could hardly say, "a vote for me is a vote for Obama," since Romney would have skewered him with that throughout the remaining primaries. As it is, he has already told a press conference Santorum was "wearing the other teams jersey," and nothing like Romney voting for Tsongas in 1992 solely to give Bush 41 an easier opponent than Clinton.

Yet as the delegate math becomes increasingly impossible for Santorum he will only get more desperate, frantic and pathetic. Expecting otherwise would be expecting him to know when he is licked, and if he knew that he would have retired after Bob Casey thumped him by almost 20% in PA six years ago. The only thing he has going for him against Romney is playing the "real conservative" card, so he will milk it for all it is worth. With a primary left in Gingrichs adopted GA, the only reason we will not see Santorum in a white sheet by the weekend is because he is Catholic.

If nothing else, while the notion of Romney running with Ron Paul is absurd, a marriage of convenience between Romney and Santorum is more plausible. Santorum brings something to the table (his sizable pull with conservative voters, which Paul utterly lacks.) Staying in the race and finishing a respectable second in every primary would deepen his appeal as a running mate, and about the only way Romney can get rid of him before the end of spring would be to publicly make the offer, which he could not rescind without completely destroying his credibility with everyone.