LADIES AND gentlemen, welcome to the first virtual debate of the new political season, a mock matchup to help take the true measure of two men locked in ideological conflict.

Our first candidate is Mitt Romney.

Candidate number two? Why, that's Mitt Romney as well.

The first Romney is the man who ran for the US Senate in 1994 and for governor in 2002.

Let's label him Moderate Mitt, or MM for short.

Romney number two is the conservative Romney has become since catching Potomac Fever. We'll call him Romney2008.

A note on the proceedings: While our forum is fanciful, the words in quotation marks are real.

Let's begin.

Where do you stand on abortion?
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Please give us your views on gun control.
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Would you sign a no-new-taxes pledge?
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What political leader do you particularly admire?
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Please pardon me for editing the posted text, but I didn't want to spoil the fun. This is a great example of research journalism, and forces politicians to remember they cannot hide from their record. All quotes culled from on the record reports.