Limbaugh detects "like an epiphany" something of an unholy alliance between the two candidates. Scarborough insists that "there's a deal between these guys." Ed Morrissey downplays their relationship:
To the extent that there is any strategy in this calculation, it’s probably that Paul thinks Romney will win the nomination and he wants to make it easy for Rand to engage with the GOP during and after the election by refraining from attacks on the next party leader.
Could it be that Paul really does loathe Santorum's anti-libertarianism more than Romney's total cynicism? That seems the logical reason to me. On the question of personal freedom and foreign policy, Santorum is Paul's polar opposite, while backing big government conservatism under Bush-Cheney. Pete Spiliakos's theory is more complex:
If the enduring “real conservative” in the race is the guy who has been spending the last six years warning about the threat of a Venezuela-Iran Axis, then Ron Paul’s mission to ideologically refashion the GOP hasn’t gone according to plan. So Paul needs to protect his space as the real conservative and to explain why the other so-called real conservatives are big spending, freedom grabbing, statist frauds. He doesn’t need to attack Romney much. No one believes Romney is the authentic conservative in the race. Paul doesn’t need to take Romney down. A two-man race against Romney (even though it would be a “losing” race) is the best that Paul can hope for, and he is doing his bit to make it happen.
Matt Lewis wonders if Romney would consider Rand Paul for VP. Earlier speculation here.
(Illustration from here)
The Dish 