Ames, Iowa - Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann were anything but Minnesota Nice in Thursday’s night presidential debate.

The former governor and current congresswoman staked their claims to the GOP presidential nomination in a series of tart exchanges as they stood side-by-side during a televised debate in Iowa.

Bachmann hit first, listing Pawlenty’s record on issues like healthcare: "That sounds a lot more like Barack Obama, if you ask me."

Pawlenty smacked right back: "She’s got a record of misstating and making false statements, and that’s another example."

In the Fox News debate two days before the do-or-die straw poll Saturday in Iowa, Bachmann set out to show she is more than just flash, and Pawlenty tried to show his political obit should not be written yet.

The unkind exchange between the two highlighted much of the two hour long Fox debate, leading a University of Virginia professor to say on Twitter: "Bachmann and Pawlenty are turning into a couple on TV’s "Divorce Court."

The Minnesotans shared the Fox News stage with Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Herman Cain and Rick Santorum. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who will announce Saturday that he, too, is running for president, did not participate.

The questions began with Bachmann, before moving on to Romney and Paul, perhaps a sign of who is leading in the race in Iowa. Pawlenty, who has minuscule results in polling and recently has seen some funders backing away, didn’t speak at all in the debate’s crucial first 10 minutes; even Cain and Huntsman were questioned before the former Minnesota governor.

But Pawlenty got his chance. Chris Wallace, a moderator, asked the former governor to address his criticism of Bachmann head on.

"Is she unqualified, or is she just beating you in the polls," said Wallace, who had once asked Bachmann whether she was a "flake."

Pawlenty was ready with an answer.

"She has done wonderful things in her life, absolutely wonderful things, but it’s an indisputable fact that in Congress, her record of accomplishment and results is non-existent," he said.

Bachmann’s rebuttal was equally withering.

"When you were governor in Minnesota, you implemented cap and trade in our state," she said. "And you praised the unconstitutional individual mandate and called for requiring all people in our state to purchase healthcare mandate. Third, you said the era of small government was over."