I've lived in the Chicago area...

...for about 40 of my 53 years (that's about 75 percent for those of you keeping score at home), and I can tell you that there's no way -- no way -- that Rick Santorum is going to defeat Mitt Romney in the Illinois primary next Tuesday.

Illinois is a much more moderate state than either Michigan or Ohio, so I don't think it will even be close. In fact, I'll bet that Santorum will be all but finished after next week. Romney will be seen as the inevitable nominee -- finally -- and the establishment will coalesce around the former governor of Massachusetts.

On to the general.