WASHINGTON (AP) -
Hurricane Sandy overran
White House politicking Monday, with President Barack Obama and
Republican Mitt Romney calling off campaign rallies as the strengthening
storm bore down on the East Coast.
Obama was first to get off
the campaign trail, rushing out of battleground Florida ahead of a
planned rally to monitor the storm in Washington and calling off a trip
to Wisconsin Tuesday. Romney followed suit shortly after the president
arrived back at the White House by canceling all events he and running
mate Paul Ryan had scheduled for Monday night and Tuesday.
"Sandy is another
devastating hurricane by all accounts, and a lot of people are going to
be facing some real tough times as a result of Sandy's fury," Romney
said at a campaign stop in Ohio. He also planned to stop in swing state
Iowa before standing down as the storm was predicted to make landfall
Monday night.
Obama was trying to balance
the need to show command in crisis while in the final throes of a tough
re-election campaign. Upon arrival at the White House, he planned to
convene a video conference in the Situation Room with administration
officials monitoring the storm's path and running the response, then
speak to reporters.
The president met with
federal emergency officials Sunday before flying to Florida that night
ahead of a rally scheduled for Monday. But the intensifying storm
heading to the East Coast took priority, with the president signing
emergency declarations for New England states in the middle of the night
from his Orlando hotel room.
By dawn the White House
decided to call off the politicking. Obama made a bumpy flight back to
Washington and landed in a driving rain that forced him to take his
motorcade, rather than his helicopter, back to the South Lawn upon
arrival.
White House spokesman Jay
Carney said they changed plans because the storm picked up speed and
intensity overnight, making it necessary for the president to leave
earlier if he hoped to get back to Washington.
"The president's priority
right now is the safety and security of Americans who are in the path of
the storm," Carney said. "It's essential in his view that he be in
Washington ... to oversee that effort and to be updated on it."
Obama's plans to campaign
Wednesday in Ohio were still on, though campaign officials said they
were evaluating travel plans on an almost hourly basis.
Most of the White House
news media representatives who accompanied Obama to Florida were left
there after the pilots of separate, charter flights determined it was
unsafe to follow Air Force One back to Washington.
Obama's aides considered
moving the Orlando event even earlier Monday morning but were told that
would put Air Force One back too late to land safely. Nearly all
commercial flights had already been canceled in the Washington area as
heavy rains soaked the capital ahead of Sandy's expected landfall Monday
night.
With eight days before
Election Day, neither campaign could afford to fully shut down its
political activity in a race that remains tight. Four critical election
states are affected by the storm - North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio and
New Hampshire - but there was still unthreatened ground to cover across
the rest of the country.
While the impact of the
storm had yet to be seen, at the very least it was a distraction as both
sides were looking to make their final appeals and millions of ballots
were already being cast in early voting. It threatened to dilute
Romney's efforts to close the deal with voters while giving Obama a
platform to show leadership in the time of crisis. And power outages
could end up cutting off their message in television ads and automatic
phone calls in the eastern swing states.
Obama advisers said they said they were confident in their ground game even if Obama has to curtail his campaign appearances.
"We're obviously going to
lose a bunch of campaign time," senior campaign adviser David Axelrod
told reporters in a conference call. "We'll try to make it up on the
back end."
Republicans concede that
the storm essentially pushes a pause button on the momentum Romney had
been building in key states across the country, but argue that it's not
necessarily a bad thing. They insist they are in strong positions in
battlegrounds like Ohio, Florida, Colorado and Iowa, but acknowledge
that Virginia could be a problem. Romney was forced to cancel three
rallies planned for the state on Sunday and it's unclear when he'll be
able to return.
Romney's campaign is
considering a plan to send the candidate to New Jersey later this week,
where he could meet with victims and gauge damage with political ally
Gov. Chris Christie. The move would follow the path Romney took in the
wake of Hurricane Irene following the Republican National Convention,
when he toured storm damage in Louisiana with Gov. Bobby Jindal, also a
supporter.
Former President Bill
Clinton still planned to appear before voters at the Orlando rally in
Obama's absence. Later Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden were
appearing together in Youngstown, Ohio. Biden was originally supposed to
campaign in New Hampshire Monday, but diverted to Ohio to replace Obama
after the president canceled his appearance to stick to Washington.
Polls suggest Obama has an
advantage in reaching the required 270 Electoral College votes. But
Romney's campaign is projecting momentum and considering trying to
expand the playing field beyond the nine states that have garnered the
bulk of the candidates' attention.
A senior Republican
official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to disclose private
deliberations, said Romney's team was discussing sending the GOP
nominee, Ryan or both to traditionally left-leaning Minnesota during the
campaign's final week.
Clinton planned to campaign
in the state Tuesday with likely stops on college campuses, before
continuing on a tireless swing to help fill Obama's void this week to
Iowa, Colorado, Ohio, Virginia, New Hampshire and Wisconsin.
Both campaigns used social
media to urge supporters to donate to the Red Cross and said they would
stop sending fundraising emails on Monday to people living in areas in
the storm's path.
Romney staffers in North
Carolina, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia were collecting
storm-relief supplies at campaign offices to be delivered via one of
Romney's campaign buses. In an email, Romney encouraged supporters in
the storm's path to help neighbors get ready.
"For safety's sake, as you
and your family prepare for the storm, please be sure to bring any yard
signs inside," the email read. "In high winds they can be dangerous, and
cause damage to homes and property."
