Mount Rudy Erupts

Charlie Gibson, for one, doesn't think much of these early debates.

How do I know? I was in New York yesterday, and I asked him. He didn't report on the Republican faceoff last night, but Brian Williams, Katie Couric and just about everyone else did. You can check out my interview with the "World News" anchor here.

Gibson is right that the debates are absurdly early, but they are, undeniably in my view, making news, and shaping initial impressions -- even if it's just among the politically attuned -- of the candidates.

The biggest moment by far, even bigger than McCain essentially calling Mitt a flip-flopper, was Rudy smacking down Ron Paul.

The good news: Giuliani went on the offensive on his signature issue, 9/11, and got everyone buzzing.

The bad news: He was beating up a guy no one had ever heard of.

In fact, Congressman Paul may get more of a bump out of this than America's mayor. The exchange must have lifted him to at least 1 percent name recognition.

In our soundbite-driven, YouTube world, what may matter most is that Giuliani seized the moment with a Reaganesque "I paid for this microphone, Mr. Breen!" What also matters is that he was cogent on the abortion question, even though many GOP primary voters are certain to disagree with him.

But who knows, maybe Charlie's right and it's too early to matter.

"Team Rudy should send a hundred roses to Ron Paul -- yellow roses, of course -- after the congressman essentially tossed the debate to Giuliani," says Captain Ed. "Rudy had a pretty good night going anyway, but when Paul as much as said that the terrorists had a point in killing 3,000 Americans, Rudy let fly with the righteous indignation that an entire nation was busily hurling at their television screens . . .

"The Buffoon Of The Year award goes to Ron Paul. His contention that America deserved the 9/11 attack should end his political career. Hopefully it will convince the next forum to exclude him from the proceedings."

Marty Kaplan at HuffPost wasn't exactly wowed: