Rick Santorum is no debate-slouch. He has an answer for everything, and until now, had yet to have been caught up in a gotcha type moment.

The problem is, a gotcha moment wasn't needed in order to disarm the conservative former Senator. Romney was smart enough to let Santorum get twisted up in his own words, regardless if they were correct. Santorum may have provided sound logic, but it came at a cost of sounding long winded, verbose, and frankly, guilty.

This is probably where Santorum's attorney background came to hurt him. If the debate had been before a judge, Santorum would have probably won. A judge wouldn't have minded hearing Santorum say the word "earmark" over 10 times, because it was simply part of his defense. The same could not be said for the raucous GOP crowd, who justifiably didn't enjoy watching a former Senator get tangled up in toxic political and legal jargon.

While Romney has mastered the art of the debate by now, knowing which soundbytes work, which attacks are worth defending, and which keywords not to say, Santorum is the opposite. Though arguably more intelligent and knowledgeable, Santorum couldn't resist passing up each and every knock that Romney laid on him, even when it was worthwhile to lay off and maybe counter attack. Each argument that Santorum defeated in a technical manner came at a Pyrrhic cost, as the audience either couldn't keep up or simply tired of hearing a seemingly guilty man argue his way to the truth.

There are many who say that Romney is going to come out of this GOP nomination process as a battered nominee. But after 20 debates, Romney won the final 3, all of which included Gingrich, arguably the best debater of the bunch. Battered and bruised? Maybe. But it comes with progress. Obama may be practicing behind closed doors with his debate coaches, but Romney has just finished twenty nationally televised debates. The experience alone certainly counts for something, and may provide a Kevlar-like protection for Romney as he heads into the national contest coming this Fall.

Additionally, each Romney attack has been exhausted. Bain Capital? Check. The dog strapped to the roof of the car? Double check. Paying only a 15% tax rate? No problem there. Accounts in the Cayman Islands? Didn't seem to bother too many. The great thing about a drawn out nomination process is transparency. Romney has been vetted down to his core, if he even has one.