With Election Day barely a week away, President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are on the sidelines as Hurricane Sandy has become the focus for everyone, from citizens to mayors and governors..
As the devastating storm continues to shatter many homes, businesses and lives, relief works become the priority and suddenly it sounds silly to talk about the presidential election. On the other hand, Hurricane Sandy, the biggest "October surprise" in history, left both the campaigning sides in an unprecedented situation forcing them to reschedule and rearranged their campaigning strategies and focus.
President Obama remained hunkered down in the White House monitoring the federal response to Sandy and the relief works in the affected states. He cancelled a third straight day of campaigning and called off events scheduled for Wednesday in swing state Ohio. As the president continues to be involved in the hurricane response activities, former President Bill Clinton campaigned solo in Florida and was later joined with Biden in Ohio. Clinton is expected to lead the campaign in Minnesota, Iowa, Colorado, Ohio, Virginia, New Hampshire and Wisconsin for the race's final days.
In an strategic political move to avoid the perception that he was putting the campaign ahead of responsibilities as president, Obama, when asked how the storm might affect the election, said he wasn't thinking along those lines.
"I'm worried about the impact on families, and I'm worried about the impact on our first responders. I'm worried about the impact on our economy and on transportation," he said.
Meanwhile, Romney resumed his campaign, but in a new format that termed the political rally in Ohio into a "storm relief event." Romney urged his supporters to "do your very best" in donating to relief efforts. While trying to keep the campaign less political, but not completely abandoning it, Romney's side went ahead with the Ohio rally which turned into a hurricane fundraiser.
"We have heavy hearts, as you know, with all of the suffering going on in a major part of our country," Romney said at the event outside Dayton. "It's part of the American spirit, the American way, to give to people that are in need," the GOP candidate said while his followers lined up the collected goods to be sent to New Jersey. However, his side made it clear that its campaign will be resumed soon and that Romney would attend a full slate of events in Florida on Wednesday and Virginia on Thursday.
