National Convention
Following the July 20 Aurora shooting, both Obama and Romney suspended campaign rhetoric out of respect to the victims. The next week, foreign policy came to the forefront as Romney embarked on an international tour to meet with foreign leaders. While in London, ahead of the 2012 Summer Olympics, Romney suggested the city was not ready for the event, which prompted British Prime Minister David Cameron to argue that London is "one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world" and that, as with Romney's 2002 Salt Lake City games, "it is easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere." After this, Romney visited Israel, where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and voiced his support for Israeli actions against Iran to prevent nuclear proliferation in that nation. Romney received some criticism after a meeting in Israel in which he argued that cultural differences impacted the economic disparity between Israel and its neighbors. He completed his trip in Poland, where he received a warm reception, and endorsed a missile defense system in the nation that President Obama scrapped in 2009. In response to the trip, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs argued that Romney "both offended our closest ally and triggered a troubling reaction in the most sensitive region of the world...He certainly didn't prove to anyone that he passed the commander-in-chief test." The Obama campaign announced at the end of the month that former President Bill Clinton would be given a prime-time slot at September's Democratic 
, while San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro was slated to deliver the keynote address. On July 31, Obama led Romney in the national "RealClearPolitics" average, 47.0 percent to 45.0 percent.
On the campaign trail, July 2012