“I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews,” he said. “I don’t believe we have the right to tell women they can’t control their lives.”

At another point, Ryan saluted Biden’s son, Beau, for serving in the military. Biden noted at another that he experienced tragedy firsthand when his first wife and daughter were killed in an auto accident.

In one of the more personal exchanges, Ryan told how Romney helped a family hit by injuries pay for college, and how he gives more than 30 percent of his income to charity – more than Biden and Ryan combined. “Mitt Romney is good man,” Ryan said.

Referring to the criticism of Romney’s secretly taped comments disparaging 47 percent of Americans as freeloaders, Ryan said, “He cares about 100 percent of the Americans.”

Noting Biden’s own tendency for gaffes, Ryan joked that “sometimes the words don’t come out of your mouth the right way.”

“I don’t doubt his personal commitment to individuals,” Biden said. “But I know he had no commitment to the automobile industry.”

Romney opposed the government bailout of Chrysler and General Motors. Both automakers are now on firmer financial ground.

Biden was animated throughout the debate, at turns smiling and laughing, as well as grimacing in response to Ryan’s answers to Raddatz’s questions. The vice president interrupted – which he did repeatedly – as Ryan criticized the administration’s Middle East policy.

“That’s a bunch of malarkey," Biden said, subsequently suggesting that Ryan’s remarks were "a bunch of stuff."

When Raddatz gave him a quizzical look, Biden told her, "It’s simply inaccurate."

Ryan offered, "It’s Irish."

Their personal exchanges notwithstanding, the two clashed over policies.

Ryan challenged the Obama administration’s first accounts of the Libya attacks, which at first claimed that an anti-Muslim video inflamed a crowd rather than calling it a terrorist attack. He noted that President Barack Obama referred to the video six times in a speech to the United Nations after the Libya attack.

“This is becoming more troubled by the day,” Ryan said of the still-emerging details of what the administration knew in those first days after the attack. Ryan said it was “indicative of a broader problem . . . the unraveling of the Obama foreign policy.”

Biden defended the administration’s response, saying it relied on intelligence reports that turned out to be false. “We will get to the bottom of it,” he said.

They tangled on Iran, with Ryan charging that Iran is “racing toward” developing nuclear weapons and that the administration dragged its feet to impose sanctions it now says are working to deter the regime. “When Barack Obama was elected, they had enough nuclear material to make one bomb. Now they have enough for five,” Ryan said.

Biden accused Republicans of “bluster” and “loose talk” and asked Ryan what else could be done beyond the “most crippling sanctions in the history of sanctions.” He asked whether Ryan was saying that he’d back a war with Iran.

“How are they going to prevent war if there’s nothing more they say we should do than we’ve already done,” Biden said. “We feel quite confident we could deal a serious blow to the Iranians.”