Generally, campaign press releases are unrelenting twaddle. But Romney put out a decent one today… better, frankly, than his not-too-dramatic op-ed in today’s WaPo. (Really, Mitt, shipbuilding will be job one in taking on Iran?)

In a major effort to win back pro-Israel voters, Barack Obama went before AIPAC’s 2012 policy conference and reassured the audience that he “has Israel’s back.”

With the threat of a veto hanging over its head, the National Defense Authorization bill heads to the House floor today for debate. Among the provisions are several dealing with the question of a nuclear weapons armed Iran, and what the United States should do to avert a crisis, prepare to handle the threat, or eliminate the threat altogether.

After a post I did earlier this week on Congress caving on Central Bank of Iran sanctions, I got a grumpy call from my buds at AIPAC. No, they had not “sided with the Obama administration” as I claimed, except in the case of a couple of technical changes to the Menendez-Kirk amendment and one substantial change.

Just in time for your post-Monday morning coffee jitters comes a calming article from Paul Pillar, former CIA Near East hand: We Can Live with a Nuclear Iran.

Kicking the can down the road. That's been the Obama administration's response on issues from Iran's nuclear weapons program to America's entitlement systems.

Hill conferees filed the National Defense Authorization bill last night, which means the conference agreed upon final language. The bill has enjoyed its share of controversy over a detainee provision, but another viciously fought battle included a provision to sanction the Central Bank of Iran. You remember the Central Bank?

On Monday, President Obama will sit down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. With a showdown looming over Iran, their summit will not only be the most important meeting for either leader but it may also be the most consequential meeting for the entire Middle East since Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s 1993 handshake with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat.