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Hurricane Sandy has cut in half the final stretch of the presidential race, leaving both the Obama and Romney campaigns uncertain as to when it’s possible to resume a full political schedule with a week to go until Election Day.
(PHOTOS: Hurricane Sandy)
Continue ReadingA senior Romney official estimated that there are now just five real days of campaigning left, starting Thursday. Strategists on both sides expressed optimism that most parts of the campaign would return to normal by Wednesday, but that doesn’t necessarily include nakedly partisan activity by the candidates.
With national media outlets broadcasting images of flooded New York City streets and a devastated New Jersey shoreline, no candidate wants to risk offending voters by resuming politics-as-usual too quickly. And voters may or may not be paying attention to political news in the midst of a major national disaster.
Strategists on both sides of the presidential race said the center of gravity will likely move to the Midwest and West in the coming days, safely away from areas affected by the storm. Paul Ryan is currently scheduled to hold campaign events in Wisconsin Wednesday. The Obama campaign announced two Wisconsin stops for Vice President Joe Biden on Friday, but included the caveat that Biden’s “travel is subject to change due to weather conditions.”
Even swing states within Sandy’s reach may be open for business in most respects: Virginia, New Hampshire and Ohio were not hit as hard as once feared. But there remains an overarching concern on both sides about letting candidates on the stump appear in a split-screen image with areas grappling with storm recovery.
(See also: POLITICO's swing-state map)
Longtime Republican strategist Scott Reed, who managed Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential run, said the candidates have now entered “a very dangerous period for both campaigns, not to look overly political in difficult times.”
“Any forward momentum Romney had has now been halted. And President Obama’s greatest campaign tool, Air Force One, has been grounded for the last two days,” said Reed, who suggested the center of campaign activity would move to the Midwest and West in the final stretch. “Be prepared for non-stop campaigning the last four or five days.”
Mississippi Republican National Committeeman Henry Barbour, a Romney supporter deeply familiar with Gulf Coast storm politics, agreed that the center of gravity would move away from the storm, west to Ohio and beyond.
“It definitely freezes the race on the East Coast,” Barbour said, but “in terms of ground game in Wisconsin and Iowa,” the campaign will go on.
But that doesn’t mean that Obama and Romney can afford to look crassly political at a moment when the nation is hearing grim stories about huge house fires in Queens and a failed generator at NYU Langone Medical Center that left patients without power.
(Also on POLITICO: Full coverage of Hurricane Sandy)
At daybreak Tuesday, Romney’s schedule consisted of a storm relief event in Ohio and a trip to Florida, where his future schedule was unclear. Both sides have delegated campaign activity to prominent surrogates: former President Bill Clinton is campaigning today for Obama in Colorado, while Ann Romney will headline a rally for her husband in Des Moines.
