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Sen. Ben Cardin leads a news conference to highlight the impact of the federal government partial shutdown on government workers in the National Capital Region and across the country in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill October 2, 2013 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

For nearly a half-century, Sen. Ben Cardin has been a state legislator, speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates, a member of the U.S. House and for the last eight years, a senator. Now, he's an ambassador of sorts, representing diverse constituencies in a tense and complex standoff over the threat a nuclear Iran could pose to Israel and the United States.

"I am trying to bridge the differences here," Cardin said in a telephone interview Wednesday from a Florida vacation a little while after receiving a call from President Obama.

There are many difficult disputes between powerful groups and across continents over how to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. On one track, Mr. Obama is in the final stages of negotiations with Iran over a deal that would curb Tehran's nuclear program and ease sanctions. He has issued a veto threat and personally pushed against the second track - a bill in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that would give Congress a say over the provisions of any such deal.

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Ben Cardin steps up as top Senate Democrat in Iran negotiations