SCRAPPERS McCain, Giuliani

With the first round of debates under their belts, it was time Tuesday for the presidential candidates to start picking battles—with each other. The first to pair off: Rudy Giuliani and Ron Paul, John McCain and Mitt Romney, and John Edwards and Mike Huckabee.

A rundown of last night's top bouts after the jump ...

Rudy vs. Ron Paul
Giuliani tangled with anti-war Rep. Ron Paul after the Texan suggested that Islamic terrorists "attack us because we've been over there," specifically citing that "we've been bombing Iraq for 10 years." A ticked-off Rudy disrupted the debate format: "That's really an extraordinary statement, as someone who lived through the attack of September 11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq. I don't think I have ever heard that before, and I have heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11. I would ask the congressman withdraw that comment and tell us that he didn't really mean that."

Paul, who was asked twice during the debate why he was running as a Republican, refused to do so, noting that he believes "very sincerely that the CIA is correct when they talk about blowback."

In an interview afterwards, Giuliani compared Paul to the Saudi prince who tried to donate $10 million to New York City after the 9/11 attacks—Giuliani refused the donation after the prince blamed the attacks on U.S. policies. Interestingly, Giuliani said this during an interview with a network that is partly owned by that very same Saudi prince—Fox News.

Winner: Split decision
Rudy maintains ownership of 9/11 sanctimony—but Paul was winning last night's Fox News viewers post-debate text message poll

McCain vs. Romney
Mitt Romney started a shoving match with John McCain last night by expressing his hope that McCain's work with liberal Sen. Teddy Kennedy on immigration doesn't become as disastrous for the country as McCain's work with liberal Sen. Russ Feingold on campaign finance reform. The man nicknamed "McNasty" at the Naval Academy—and who was known for violently cursing his Vietcong captors as they carried him to torture sessions—took several opportunities in the debate to return Romney's favor. He first took aim at Romney's reputation as a flip-flopper: "I haven't changed my position on even number years and haven't changed my position based on what offices I may be running for."

McNasty later suggested that people who talk the toughest on using torture (which Romney did by suggesting we "double Guantánamo") are generally those who did not serve their country in the military (which Romney didn't). And after the debate, he reminded Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes that Romney once bragged about voting for liberal Democrat Senator Paul Tsongas.

Winner: McNasty

Huckabee vs. John Edwards
Mike Huckabee took the laugh line of the night early by making fun of the Democrat's $400 haircut, saying Congress spent money "like John Edwards at a beauty shop." In a post-debate interview, Huckabee kept at it, saying his barber couldn't charge him $400 for a haircut even "if he charged me a dollar a hair."

Winner (by knockout): Huckabee

Photo: Getty Images