Your morning global affairs speed-read

If it's Monday, it's time to play bingo — presidential debate bingo, that is. Thanks to the good folks at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, watching tonight's third and final debate, on foreign policy, will be as fun as it will — no doubt — be enlightening.

Mitt Romney enters tonight's debate tied with President Obama after all but erasing the president's lead on national security. Expect Romney to continue hammering Obama on last month's attack in Libya, as Republicans have throughout the weekend; Obama, meanwhile, is out with a new ad this morning touting his “responsible” end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. With much of tonight's discussion centering on the Middle East, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy has a handy cheat-sheet of questions neither candidate has adequately answered so far.

Another topic that should receive renewed attention is the showdown over Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program, following reports — since denied — that the United States and Iran could sit down for one-on-one talks after the election. [The New York Times]

The Oversight chairman rejected claims he had endangered Libyan civilians, accusing Democrats of "falsely politicizing the issue.”

The White House is denying a report that said an agreement was reached for one-on-one talks on Iran's nuclear program.

The fresh attacks come as the president prepares to go head-to-head with Mitt Romney in Monday night’s foreign policy debate.

Sen. Marco Rubio is dredging back up the issue of intelligence leaks by the White House, claiming recent disclosures by the administration on possible counterstrikes against terror targets in Libya could end up endangering those operations. 

Amid numerous Republican demands for information from the White House over the Benghazi attack, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) is also seeking answers from the Obama administration over the security failures in Libya.

Lieberman, who announced his Senate Homeland Security investigation into the attack last week, sent letters Friday to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper requesting documents and briefings relating to the Benghazi attack and diplomatic security.

In announcing the investigation last week, Lieberman touted it as a “bipartisan inquiry” supported by both him and ranking member Susan Collins (R-Maine).

Issa sent a letter to the White House demanding to know why the security presence in Libya was toned down

A liberal national security group will run a new ad about the consequences of a potential war with Iran on CNN before and after Monday’s foreign policy debate.

The ad from the Truman National Security Project questions the cost of a war with Iran and the lack of an exit strategy.

“There’s a lotta guys on TV talking about a war with Iran, and nobody can tell me how this ends,” a veteran says as pictures of former Vice President Dick Cheney and John Bolton, who served as Ambassador to the United Nations in the George W. Bush administration, flash in the background.

Your morning global affairs speed-read

The Obama campaign suffered a blow Thursday when new polling showed Republican Mitt Romney closing the gap on foreign policy, which had been a key point of strength for the president. The two candidates will face off on the topic Monday during their third and final debate.

Much of the president's ground on the topic has been lost over the past month, following the attack in Libya, and administration officials have been working hard to undo the damage. They've pushed back especially hard on Republican accusations that the president deliberately misled voters about the circumstances of the attack and laid out their most detailed explanation yet for the changing intelligence assessment in interviews with The Wall Street Journal.

As for Obama, he made it clear Thursday that he won't shy away from playing his trump card during Monday's debate. 

“Monday’s debate is a little bit different because the topic is foreign policy,” Obama said at last night at the Alfred E. Smith Dinner. “Spoiler alert: We got bin Laden.”