Jerusalem (CNN) -- It was a different Mitt Romney who arrived in Jerusalem at the weekend. The man who landed on the campaign flight from London was unusually circumspect, even for a candidate not noted for unbridled displays of exuberance and emotion. But if the Republican front-runner seemed wooden and tense as he stood beside his old friend and onetime professional colleague Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, he had his reasons. The Israel whistle-stop of Romney's current three-nation tour may prove the most crucial to his chances of defeating Barack Obama in November. Republican strategists hope that the policy and press-the-flesh pilgrimage to Jerusalem would help Romney sway the hearts and votes of traditionally Democratic Jews in battleground states.
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Romney visited Israel as part of three country tour that also includes Britain and Poland
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Romney fundraiser attended by American tycoon Sheldon Adelson
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Burston: Neither Romney nor Obama seem to generate much enthusiasm
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The visit has also served to illustrate the observation that at some point, all those who spend time in @placeholder find themselves suspended between the 21st century and the 1st.
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I believe that Americans, the @placeholder people, will come through for us whenever we are in trouble, and the president will, too.