Rick Santorum might pay heavily for his push for short-term gain in Michigan, McKay Coppins reports.
Mitt Romney's campaign will spend the next two weeks reminding Republicans around the country of Rick Santorum's last-minute attempt to convince Democrats to vote for him her ein Michigan, a Romney aide said Tuesday night.
"It's a major issue. [Santorum is] trying to pass himself off as the true conservative in the race, but he's supporting the liberal Democrat line against Governor Romney," said Ryan Williams, a spokesman for the Romney campaign.
.... A campaign aide said Romney may even work Santorum's courting of Democrats into Romney's stump speech going forward.
This really wasn't an issue of courting Democrats so much as it was using a Democratic line on the robocall.
It's not just a dangerous story because Republicans don't like the stray, it's also bad because it implies that Santorum can't win a straight-up matchup with Romney in a big state that both compete heavily for.
In other words, it reinforces the idea that Santorum can't put together a broad enough coalition -- either in the primaries or general election.
And when electability is already a concern to voters, Santorum can't afford to raise any more questions.
