Superstorm lays waste to campaign plans of US election
Source: Agencies |
October 31, 2012, Wednesday
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THE superstorm ravaging the US East Coast laid waste to the campaign strategies of President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney with just a week remaining in their intensely close race for the White House.
Obama canceled campaign events for the last two days as he stayed in the White House to manage the vast emergency that hit the heavily populated region between Washington and Boston and began to stretch toward Chicago and the Midwest.
Romney and running mate Paul Ryan initially announced they were cancelling events out of sensitivity for the millions of American's in Sandy's path. But Romney was going forward with a planned event in Ohio, though his campaign said its focus would be storm relief.
Both candidates sought to avoid the appearance of putting politics above Americans' more immediate worries over flooding, power outages, economic calamity and personal safety.
With the outcome of the November 6 election likely to be decided by the thinnest of margins, the storm will distract many millions of voters in the critical few days left for the candidates to win over those who remain undecided.
Obama declared a "major disaster" in New York City and parts of New Jersey yesterday after being updated throughout the night. He kept in frequent touch with leaders of affected states, prompting the highly partisan Republican governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, to offer rare high praise.
"The president has been excellent at this," said Christie, a frequent Obama critic and Romney campaigner. "It's been very good working with the president and his administration."
Most national polls showed Obama and Romney separated by a statistically insignificant point or two, although some said Romney had a narrow lead for the overall popular vote.
The election will be won or lost in the nine most competitive states that are not reliably Republican or Democratic. Romney's increasingly narrow focus on Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio suggested he still searched for a breakthrough in the Midwest to deny Obama the 270 electoral votes needed for victory. Obama is ahead in states and Washington, DC, representing 237 electoral votes; Romney has a comfortable lead in states with 191 electoral votes.
Shifting from his role as candidate to president handling a crisis, Obama abandoned a Florida event on Monday with former President Bill Clinton to return to Washington. He addressed reporters at the White House, warning that recovery from the giant storm would not be swift. Obama expressed concern over the storm's effect on the economy.
Unwilling to cede the mantle of leadership to Obama, Romney spoke by phone to Richard Serino, deputy administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Addressing supporters in Iowa on Monday, he cautioned that the damage would likely be significant.
In the competition for attention, however, Obama held a clear edge. His pronouncements in advance of the storm dominated television coverage on Monday as he told the nation, "It's going to be a difficult storm. The great thing about America is when we go through tough times like this, we all pull together."
Obama canceled campaign events for the last two days as he stayed in the White House to manage the vast emergency that hit the heavily populated region between Washington and Boston and began to stretch toward Chicago and the Midwest.
Romney and running mate Paul Ryan initially announced they were cancelling events out of sensitivity for the millions of American's in Sandy's path. But Romney was going forward with a planned event in Ohio, though his campaign said its focus would be storm relief.
Both candidates sought to avoid the appearance of putting politics above Americans' more immediate worries over flooding, power outages, economic calamity and personal safety.
With the outcome of the November 6 election likely to be decided by the thinnest of margins, the storm will distract many millions of voters in the critical few days left for the candidates to win over those who remain undecided.
Obama declared a "major disaster" in New York City and parts of New Jersey yesterday after being updated throughout the night. He kept in frequent touch with leaders of affected states, prompting the highly partisan Republican governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, to offer rare high praise.
"The president has been excellent at this," said Christie, a frequent Obama critic and Romney campaigner. "It's been very good working with the president and his administration."
Most national polls showed Obama and Romney separated by a statistically insignificant point or two, although some said Romney had a narrow lead for the overall popular vote.
The election will be won or lost in the nine most competitive states that are not reliably Republican or Democratic. Romney's increasingly narrow focus on Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio suggested he still searched for a breakthrough in the Midwest to deny Obama the 270 electoral votes needed for victory. Obama is ahead in states and Washington, DC, representing 237 electoral votes; Romney has a comfortable lead in states with 191 electoral votes.
Shifting from his role as candidate to president handling a crisis, Obama abandoned a Florida event on Monday with former President Bill Clinton to return to Washington. He addressed reporters at the White House, warning that recovery from the giant storm would not be swift. Obama expressed concern over the storm's effect on the economy.
Unwilling to cede the mantle of leadership to Obama, Romney spoke by phone to Richard Serino, deputy administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Addressing supporters in Iowa on Monday, he cautioned that the damage would likely be significant.
In the competition for attention, however, Obama held a clear edge. His pronouncements in advance of the storm dominated television coverage on Monday as he told the nation, "It's going to be a difficult storm. The great thing about America is when we go through tough times like this, we all pull together."
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