There's a very valid reason why Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has defected from supporting Mitt Romney in favor of Rick Santorum. Romney's tactics make crystal clear that if he doesn't have a chance of defeating Barack Obama in November, no Republican will.

Over the past couple of months, Romney has campaigned less like a front runner and more like a jealous school girl. Newt Gingrich's stunning upset over Romney in South Carolina prompted Romney to attack full-force, outspending the rest of the field 6-to-1 leading up to the next primary in Florida. It worked.

After Santorum's hat trick in Missouri, Colorado, and Minnesota put the Romney Attack Squad's crosshairs squarely on the new national polls front runner, most were ready for the slime to be spread in his direction. DeWine was one of those hoping it wouldn't. When it did, his mind was made up.

“To be elected president, you have to do more than tear down your opponents,” DeWine said. “You have to give the American people a reason to vote for you, a reason to hope, a reason to believe that under your leadership, America will be better. Rick Santorum has done that. Sadly, Governor Romney has not.”

Will this be enough to stop Romney's SuperPAC from pouring millions of dollars into winning the rest of the states in February leading up to the first Super Tuesday in March? No. Mitt Romney and his team have demonstrated through their actions that they are willing to destroy anyone who tries to get in the way of their goal to face Obama as the Republican champion.

If Romney can't win, he'll be certain that the person who beat him is so damaged, so beaten up by his negative campaign ads that they will have no chance against Obama. Unfortunately for Republicans, it creates a lose-lose situation.

Mitt Romney cannot defeat Obama. His flipping and flopping is well documented and will be highlighted by the Obama campaign as the signature of one with a lack of character. He is such a poor speaker in interviews that he attempted to appeal to the middle class by trying to bet Rick Perry $10,000 and later saying that, “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it.”

If something is not a concern, it won't be fixed.

The statement was not intended to downplay the troubles of the unfortunate in America, nor was his bet with Rick Perry an attempt to point out that he has the ability to offer 3-months of an average worker's salary on a whimsical wager. His intended meanings are likely (relatively) pure but his inability to stop putting his foot in his mouth will get him demolished against Obama's buzz machine.

They won't have to destroy Romney. They just have to wait around long enough for him to destroy himself.

Leading up to the next primaries, Romney's team will go on the offensive against Santorum. If Paul or Gingrich make up ground, he will attack them as well. He does not have enough good ideas to lift himself as the rightful Republican candidate, so he's trying to destroy everyone else to make himself the reluctant choice by default.

The Republican party should be finding the best candidate, not settling. Romney's team will not allow that. He is the least-likely of the four remaining candidates to be able to face Obama successfully, but his efforts are intended to bring them below himself rather than to rise up to their level.

If Romney is not stopped, Obama is guaranteed a second term.

Find +JD Rucker on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.