Rick Santorum found himself in unfamiliar territory on Wednesday night: at the center of attention in a Republican primary debate. The CNN forum in Arizona was the first in almost a month, and the only debate held since upsets in Minnesota and Colorado put Santorum in the top-tier of contention with Mitt Romney. And while the former Senator has shown competence on the dais, the new level of scrutiny threw him off-balance. A threatened Romney was not a cowed Romney; he was on Santorum from the outset: “Voting for the debt ceiling five different times without voting for compensating cuts,” he said of Santorum’s congressional record. “Voting to fund Planned Parenthood, voting to expand the Department of Education. During his term in the Senate spending grew by some 80% of the federal government.” (MORE: Grading the Mesa Republican Debate) Santorum went into a defensive crouch, adroit with his counterpoints at first. He ripped Romney on taxes and spoke about his own record at length. But Romney’s attacks were quick and pithy. And Santorum’s parries lagged as the night wore on. When the conversation switched to earmarks and Santorum criticized him for seeking government assistance for the Salt Lake City Olympic Games, Romney said, “When I was fighting to save the Olympics, you were fighting to save the ‘Bridge to Nowhere,’” in reference to the $400 million exemplar of congressional graft. Santorum delivered a apologia on congressional earmarking. When Romney defended his opposition to the 2009 auto industry rescue, Santorum accused him of hypocrisy in opposing a bailout for Detroit after supporting one for Wall Street. “Nice try, but now let’s look at the facts,” Romney said before firing off a few lines on Santorum’s votes in support of airlines and the steel industry. Santorum again defended his record at length. (MORE: In the National Spotlight, Santorum Doesn’t Shy Away from Social Issues) Even in debating the health care reforms he enacted in Massachusetts, which are similar to the tenets of President Obama’s national overhaul, Romney managed to turn the conversation![]()
