Santorum is doing something we have not seen in any of the previous debates: He is directly attacking Romney, and forcing Romney to defend himself. Romney’s inability to defend himself is not impressive. Whatever his virtues, Romney is losing this big time. The hesitation, and lack of useful framing devices for his arguments, just doesn’t make sense, considering how smart he is, and how long he has been doing this.
Watching Rick Perry jump in with his male-model looks and posture, and aggressive, canned, superficial argument, is kind of old. Time for Governor Perry to pack it in.