find a balance on drug policy and incarceration rates.

Santorum clarifies further:

The bill I voted on was the Martin Luther King Voting Rights bill. And this was a provision that said, particularly targeted to Africans Americans [sic] and I voted to allow them to have their voting rights back once they completed their sentence. Do you agree with that?

To which Mitt Romney finally replies:

Yeah, I don't think people who have committed violent crimes should be allowed to vote again.

Note the qualifier. Jack Abramoff must have sighed a huge sigh of relief with that, given his own felony conviction and time served, parole served, and launch on the book tour shortly thereafter.

Santorum had laid a perfect trap, and Romney walked right into it. Straight in. With a smile, Santorum asked a follow-up question:

Very interesting you should say that," he said, "because in the state of Massachusetts when you were governor, the law was that not only could violent felons vote after they exhausted their sentences, but [they] could vote while they were on probation and parole, which was a more liberal position that I took when I voted for the bill in the Congress.

This was probably the only time in the entire debate I saw Romney really rattled, but Santorum did a great job knocking him off his rhythm, and most importantly, off his high horse. He managed to blame the Democrats in the Massachusetts legislature for that particular rule, but by then the damage was done. The ensuing back and forth did nothing to rehabilitate Romney, and ultimately Rick Santorum summarized exactly what had been said at the end of the exchange.

What the governor said is he didn't propose anything to change that law and what he's saying is that the ad that says that I said that I voted to allow felons to vote is inaccurate. And it is inaccurate, and if I had some SuperPAC that was supporting me that was inaccurate, I would go out and say "Stop it." That you're representing me and you're representing my campaign, just stop it.

Santorum's position is admirable, but I would be very surprised to discover that he ever suggested the SuperPACs who flogged the issue of Barack Obama's birth certificate or the Jeremiah Wright sermons as if Mr. Obama had written them himself should just "stop it." No, Santorum is all for civility between Republicans but not so much when running against Democrats. Have a look at some of his 2006 ads against Robert Casey.

At any rate, this round went to Mr. Santorum. Mitt Romney should consider being a little less overconfident about his nomination possibilities and a little bit more on the ball with regard to debate answers.