“It’s not about refighting the battles of the past,” said U.S. Sen. Barack Obama—or was that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Well, the quote is Romney’s but it sounds strikingly similar to one of Obama’s Iowa campaign ads from nearly a month ago. And so do lines from several other speeches Romney has given throughout Florida.

With change as this year’s campaign theme, candidates may not be refighting battles of the past, but they might start rewriting slogans of the present.

While not specifically talking about Romney’s campaign, Republican political consultant Christopher Nicholas suggested candidates give their thesaurus more than just a glance.

“It’s never a good idea to sound like the other guy,” Nicholas said.

“Voters want to think their leaders have their own ideas,” Nicholas said. “It’s one thing to attribute it, but you really don’t even want to have to do that.”

According to intellectual property lawyer Michael Graham, a partner at Chicago’s Marshall Gerstein & Borun, Romney might be walking a fine line.

“If this happened in the realm of academia, someone would lose their tenure,” Graham said. But he added that he doubted Obama would actually take legal action. 

Remarks Romney made during his Florida Primary concession speech also picked up on familiar themes – and words – from Obama’s South Carolina Primary victory speech.

“This presidential election in November ’08 is not about yesterday,” Romney said. “It’s about tomorrow.”

Obama, just four days earlier, told a South Carolina crowd, "This election is about the past versus the future.”

Not the same, but noticeably similar.

Graham is more concerned about what these similarities mean to voters than candidates

Romney, a Republican, has run a campaign focusing on fiscal conservatism, support for the war in Iraq and opposition to abortion. Obama’s positions stand in stark contrast to Romney’s view of what change means, but the parroting remains.

“We build on the ideas that came before us and if it expresses some idea we agree with we use them.” Graham said, “But if it doesn’t, then the public just ends up confused or cynical. I want specifics on where they disagree.”

Nicholas shares his concern about candidates expressing themselves clearly.

“I know it is against the law for candidates not to mention the word change this year, but both of these guys need to really get out their message. Their own message.”