Mitt Romney ignored the most significant expansion of trade ties in nearly two decades when he accused the Obama administration Monday night of doing nothing to open new markets. Rick Santorum claimed to be taking purely the high road in campaign ads even as a new one from him veered from that path. 
 
 Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich participate in the South Carolina Republican presidential candidate debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Monday, Jan. 16, 2012.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Republican presidential candidates, from left to right: Texas Gov. Rick Perry; former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum; former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; and Rep.... (Associated Press) 
 
 People view the Republican presidential debate on a large video screen outside of the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (Associated Press) 
 
 Newt Gingrich mischaracterized the Chilean retirement system that he favors as a partial model for the United States, declaring that the system of private accounts is voluntary when it's not. 
 
 So it went in the latest Republican presidential debate as the candidates took shortcuts with complex realities and committed some outright distortions. A look at some of the claims and how they compare with the facts: 
 
 ___ 
 
 ROMNEY: "This president has opened up no new markets for American goods around the world in his three years, even as European nations and China have opened up 44." 
 
 THE FACTS: Actually, Obama revived Bush-administration-era free-trade pacts with South Korea, Panama and Columbia, all passed by Congress in October, in the biggest round of trade liberalization since the North American Free Trade Agreement and other pacts of that era. 
 
 In particular, the agreement with South Korea is designed to break down barriers between the United States and the world's 15th-largest economy. The South Korea deal has the potential to create as many as 280,000 American jobs, according to a recent assessment by the staff of the U.S. International Trade Commission, and to boost exports by more than $12 billion. 
 
 Obama also, on a recent trip to Asia, endorsed an Asia-Pacific free-trade pact that would also boost U.S. exports to Asia. With economies weak, the benefits of freer trade may not be immediate but Romney was incorrect to say President Barack Obama has opened "no new markets." 
 
 ___ 
 
 SANTORUM: "My ads have been positive. The only ad that I've ever put up has contrasted myself with the other candidates, and does so in a way talking about issues." 
 
 THE FACTS: Santorum is coming out with an ad this week accusing Romney of being "just like Obama" and saying Romney "once bragged he's even more liberal than Ted Kennedy on social issues," two negative assertions that go beyond a mere look at issues. 
 
 As a Massachusetts senate candidate in 1994, Romney wrote to a group of gay Republicans that outlined a plan to do better than Kennedy to make "equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern." But that's not bragging about liberalism, and Romney is hardly more liberal than the late senator _ or Obama _ on social issues. Romney, for example, supports a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. 
 
 Santorum has, in fact, stayed positive in the campaign but the new ad is a departure from that. 
 
 ___ 
 
 GINGRICH on Chile's system of private retirement accounts: "First of all, it's totally voluntary. If you want to stay in the current system, stay in it. If you are younger and you want to go and take a personal savings account, which would be a Social Security savings account, you can take it." 
 
 THE FACTS: There is nothing voluntary about Chile's system. It requires that all workers contribute 10 percent of their salaries to private pension plans, plus other fees for insurance, instead of a government program like Social Security. 
 
 Workers had a choice when Chile created the private pensions in 1981 but after that phase-in, all new employees have been required to contribute 10 percent of their first $33,360 in annual wages, choosing among five funds whose investments range from safe bonds to riskier stocks. 
 
 The Chile model was also a favorite of Herman Cain when he was in the Republican race. He, too, mischaracterized the system as optional. 
 
 ___ 
 
 ROMNEY: "We invested in well over 100 different businesses. And the people have looked at the places that have added jobs and lost jobs and that record is pretty much available for people to take a close look at." 
 
 THE FACTS: Romney's record as a venture capitalist at Bain Capital has been presented by his campaign highly selectively; namely, by detailing several big success stories and ignoring the job losses that resulted from Bain-owned plants and companies that closed or shrank their workforce. 
 
 His overall record is not even close to being known, because it is so complex. Many of the companies are private, without the public disclosure requirements that big corporations have, and his campaign has not released details. 
 
 Under scrutiny, Romney has stepped back from claiming that he created more than 100,000 jobs overall with his Bain investments. That claim was never substantiated. In the debate, he named four successful investments in companies that now _ a decade after he left Bain _ employ about 120,000 people, a more measured and accurate statement, but one that still does not account for losses elsewhere. 
 
 ___ 
 
 RON PAUL: "Taliban are people who want _ their main goal is to keep foreigners off their land. It's the al-Qaida _ you can't mix the two. The al-Qaida want to come here to kill us. The Taliban just says we don't want foreigners. We need to understand that or we can't resolve this problem in the Middle East." 
 
 THE FACTS: What Paul is missing is that the Taliban harbored foreigners in their land _ al-Qaida terrorists who came to the United States and killed Americans_ and that the Obama administration fears that might happen again if the Taliban regain control in Kabul. 
 
 He was correct that the U.S. prior to the 2001 terrorist attacks did not consider the Taliban to be a threat to the U.S. homeland. 
 
 ___ 
 
 ROMNEY: "Three years into office, he doesn't have a jobs plan." 
 
 FACT CHECK: Like them or not, Obama has proposed several plans intended to spur the economy and create jobs. The most well-known was his stimulus plan, introduced in February 2009, which included about $800 billion in tax cuts and spending. 
 
 At the end of 2010, Obama struck a deal with GOP congressional leaders on a package intended to stimulate hiring and growth. The deal cut the Social Security payroll tax, which provided about an extra $1,000 a year to an average family. It also extended an unemployment benefits program that provided up to 99 weeks of aid. 
 
 And in September, Obama introduced his most recent jobs plan, rolling it out in a speech to the full Congress in which he urged Congress to "pass it right away." It included $450 billion in tax cuts and new spending, including greater cuts to payroll taxes and tax breaks for companies that hire those who've been out of work for six months or more. Almost none of it has been passed into law. 
 
 ___ 
 
 GINGRICH: Romney "raised taxes." 
 
 ROMNEY: "We reduced taxes 19 times." 
 
 THE FACTS: Both assertions were basically true, though decidedly one-sided. 
 
 Romney largely held the line on tax increases but there were notable exceptions. The state raised business taxes by $140 million in one year with measures mostly recommended by Romney. As well, the Republican governor and Democratic lawmakers raised hundreds of millions of dollars from higher fees and fines _ taxation by another name. Romney himself proposed raising nearly $60 million by creating 33 new fees and increasing 57 others. Romney won praise from anti-tax advocates by firmly backing income tax cuts _ and criticism over the business taxes and fees. 
 
 ___ 
 
 GINGRICH: "More people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history." 
 
 THE FACTS: It's gotten easier to qualify for food stamps in the past decade but that is because of measures taken before Obama became president. 
 
 It's true that the number of people on food stamps is now at a record level. That's due mainly to the ailing economy, which Republicans blame on Obama, as well as rising food costs. 
 
 The worst downturn since the Great Depression wiped out 8.7 million jobs, pushed the unemployment rate to a peak of 10 percent in October 2009 and increased poverty. 
 
 More than 46.2 million people were on food stamps in October 2011, down slightly from a record 46.3 million in September. That's up from fewer than 31 million people three years earlier. 
 
 Eligibility rules were relaxed in 2002 and 2008 during the Bush administration. Obama's stimulus package, passed in February 2009, relaxed the program's work requirements through September 2010. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Christopher S. Rugaber, Tom Raum, Steve Peoples, Robert Burns and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report. ||||| In a spirited debate, Republican candidates variously strained the facts on President Obama's record on trade, tangled with each other over a misleading ad about allowing felons to vote, and erred on the history of the federal income tax. 
 
 Otherwise, the five remaining GOP presidential candidates pretty much stuck to the facts as they debated Jan. 16 at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The event was sponsored by Fox News and the Wall Street Journal. Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman dropped out of the race earlier in the day, endorsing former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. 
 
 Santorum vs. Romney: Felons' voting rights 
 
 In a night filled with debate about claims made by super PACs, one of the liveliest came between Romney and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum over a claim involving voting rights for felons. 
 
 Santorum was correct on the facts while defending himself against a misleading ad run by the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future. The ad claimed Santorum "even voted to let convicted felons vote." Because the ad features a background image of a man in an orange prison jumpsuit wearing an "I voted" sticker, Santorum said the clear implication is that he voted to allow felons to vote from prison. 
 
 In fact, as Santorum correctly noted, the amendment he voted for in 2002 would have allowed felons to register to vote only after they had successfully completed their probation and parole. Santorum was one of just three Republicans to vote for the amendment, which failed 63-31. 
 
 When Romney said his view is that "I don't think people who have committed violent crimes should be allowed to vote again," Santorum replied that, "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." He's right. Massachusetts is one of 13 states that allow people with felony convictions to vote upon release from prison. 
 
 When Santorum asked Romney why he didn't try to change that law when he was governor of Massachusetts, Romney said it was "something we discussed" but that the Massachusetts Legislature at the time was 85% Democratic. 
 
 Romney vs. Obama: No new markets? 
 
 Romney claimed that "this president has opened up no new markets for American goods around the world in his three years," ignoring trade deals Obama signed in October 2011 with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. 
 
 When we asked Romney's spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, about this claim, he said the three deals we mentioned were negotiated by the Bush administration and only approved by Congress under Obama. But that, too, ignores work by the Obama administration to break a stalemate and win agreement from lawmakers on the deals. The New York Timessaid that the culmination of the deals "end[ed] a political standoff that has stretched across two presidencies," calling the inking of the pacts "a rare moment of bipartisan accord" and "a victory for President Obama," who bucked some in his own party who opposed the deals. 
 
 So it would be accurate to say the president hasn't negotiated any new trade deals, but Romney goes too far when he denies the president any credit for opening up new markets. 
 
 Paul vs. history: Income tax 
 
 Rep. Ron Paul claimed that the United States had no income tax "up until 1913." Not quite. Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1861 to help finance the Civil War. 
 
 During the debate, moderator Bret Baier asked each candidate how high they would set the income tax rate. Paul was the only candidate to say "zero" percent, drawing huge applause, and supporting his position with a bogus history lesson. 
 
 Paul: Well, we should have the lowest tax that we ever had and up until 1913 it was zero percent. What's so bad about that? 
 
 Yes, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the explicit power to tax "from whatever source derived." But Congress did impose income taxes prior to that. 
 
 Library of Congress: The origin of the income tax on individuals is generally cited as the passage of the 16th Amendment, passed by Congress on July 2, 1909, and ratified February 3, 1913; however, its history actually goes back even further. During the Civil War Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1861 which included a tax on personal incomes to help pay war expenses. The tax was repealed ten years later. However, in 1894 Congress enacted a flat rate Federal income tax, which was ruled unconstitutional the following year by the U.S. Supreme Court because it was a direct tax not apportioned according to the population of each state. The 16th amendment, ratified in 1913, removed this objection by allowing the Federal government to tax the income of individuals without regard to the population of each State. 
 
 A historian at the National Archives, Cynthia Fox, wrote that Congress in 1862 imposed an income tax of 3% on annual incomes between $600 and $10,000 and 5% on income above $10,000. Taxes went up two years later. "In 1864 the rates increased and the ceiling dropped so that incomes between $600 and $5,000 were taxed at 5%, with a 10% rate on the excess over $5,000," she wrote. The income tax continued until 1872.
– The air was thick with half-truths and distortions at last night's combative Republican debate. Here's how fact-checkers score the bout: Nearly every fact-checker blasted Mitt Romney for asserting that President Obama "has opened up no new markets for American goods around the world." Actually, Obama has opened up South Korea, Panama, and Colombia, in the biggest free trade expansion since NAFTA. Though, as a Romney spokesman points out to USA Today, all were negotiated under Bush; Obama fought to get them through Congress. Newt Gingrich called Obama the "best food stamp president in American history." Politifact rated that Half-True; yes, more people are on food stamps than ever, but that's thanks to policies and economic conditions Obama inherited. Ron Paul said the US had no income tax until 1913, but one was actually instituted temporarily in 1861 to pay for the Civil War. Rick Santorum said his ads "have been positive," and only contrasted himself with other candidates "in a way talking about issues." But the AP points out that his latest ad dings Romney as "just like Obama," among other attacks that go beyond issues. Gingrich asserted that Chile's private retirement system is "totally voluntary." Actually, it's completely mandatory. Romney asserted that "three years into office, [Obama] doesn't have a jobs plan." The AP points out that "like them or not, Obama has proposed several plans." Gingrich said Romney "raised taxes," and Romney said he "reduced taxes 19 times." Neither is totally true; Romney cut income tax, but raised revenue in business taxes and higher fees and fines.