Hurricane Sandy: Storm threat to key US election week -- BBC News

[bsteadman]

Hurricane Sandy: Storm threat to key US election week

BBC News
10/28/2012

Excerpt:

President Barack Obama has held a conference call with emergency chiefs to discuss preparations for the storm, which could hit as early as Monday.

Its sustained winds of 75mph (120km/h) are set to intensify as it merges with a wintry storm from the western US.

A number of states key to the election could be hit by a storm that may affect up to 60 million Americans.

At 20:00 EDT (00:00 GMT on Sunday), the eye of the storm was about 330 miles south of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Craig Fugate, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said: "This is not a coastal threat alone. This is a very large area."

Sandy has already killed 60 people in the Caribbean during the past week.

Political storm

Republican candidate Mitt Romney cancelled an event scheduled for Sunday in Virginia, a key election state, because of the weather, and was instead heading to Ohio.

President Obama will head to Florida on Sunday rather than Monday, and has cancelled a campaign stop with former President Bill Clinton in Virginia on Monday and a rally in Colorado on Tuesday to monitor the storm from the White House, said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

Vice-President Joe Biden also cancelled a rally in coastal Virginia to allow for disaster preparations.

Early balloting in Maryland saw lines of voters stretching for a number of blocks at some polling stations on Saturday.

But despite concerns about Sandy's impact, with some polls suggesting the contest is a virtual dead heat, both Mr Romney and Mr Obama pressed ahead with campaigning in key swing states on Saturday.

Nine states are thought to be too close to call.

In New Hampshire, Mr Obama urged his supporters to encourage people to vote early and allow him to finish the job he started.

"We've still got a lot of work to do, but New Hampshire and the country has come too far to go back to the policies that got us into this mess," he said.

"All he's offering is a big rerun of the same policies," Mr Obama said of his opponent.

In Florida, Mr Romney said he stood for "big ideas" that would get America going again, compared to what he called Mr Obama's "shrinking agenda".

"The president doesn't have a plan, he's out of ideas, he's out of excuses and this November, Florida is going to make sure we put him out of office," Mr Romney said to cheers from the conservative crowd in Pensacola.

How Mr Obama handles the weather emergency and how far Mr Romney tries to make political capital out of it could enhance or harm their chances, says the BBC's Bridget Kendall, on the election trail.
..........................................

View the complete article at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20113620

[bsteadman]

Updated Weather Advisory on Hurricane SANDY

National Hurricane Center

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/#SANDY

[bsteadman]

Free Republic is running a thread titled, 'Hurricane SANDY Forecast Discussion [NOAA & NHC in denial]', which was started 10/28/2012 by 'lightman'

The thread references a 10/28/2012 post by the Staff at the National Hurricane Center - http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh...l/280842.shtml

View the complete Free Republic thread at:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2951367/posts

[bsteadman]

Will Sandy Add Another Twist to Tight Race?

Real Clear Politics
Alexis Simendinger
10/29/2012

Excerpt:

President Obama, plowing into the final week of what he calls his last campaign, cannot realistically gauge how Hurricane Sandy might change his fortunes in a election so close it could shift in a breeze, let alone a gale.

What meteorologists dubbed "Frankenstorm" is expected to be gone by Nov. 6, but its effects on voters’ thinking may linger -- and could affect the president’s chances for a second term. Research has shown that public distress after disasters and grim economic events can make voters select their leaders based on how they feel about life in the moment, more than what they know over time.

With a presidential election eight days away, Sandy’s unsettling impact -- including any U.S. fatalities -- could make a difference in some voters’ thinking during this final week, particularly because up to 50 million people could experience the storm’s effects.

Power outages, government closures, and transportation interruptions will alter early-voting, mail service, plus door-to-door canvassing and phone-banking in some areas of the Northeast for a day or more. For example, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said early voting would be canceled in his state Monday because of the storm.

Depending on events, Obama and Romney could decide to pull campaign attack ads in some states in the last week. The weather emergency scrambled their travel itineraries over the weekend: Romney shifted appearances in Virginia to Ohio, and Obama scrapped rallies in Northern Virginia, Colorado Springs, Colo., and Youngstown, Ohio. (President Clinton and Vice President Biden are to be Obama’s stand-ins Monday in Youngstown.)

White House and campaign officials said Obama’s political schedule this week will be overtaken by presidential responsibilities during a hurricane.

Asked if Sandy would impact voting, Obama told reporters Sunday afternoon, “We don't anticipate that at this point, but we're obviously going to have to take a look.”

The president said his primary attention was focused on public safety. “This hasn't hit landfall yet, so we don't yet know where it's going to hit, where we're going to see the biggest impacts,” he said during a Sunday briefing with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “And that's exactly why it's so important for us to respond big and respond fast as local information starts coming in.”

For days, operations of all sorts on the Atlantic Coast will slow, costing businesses money, and scrambling schedules for tens of millions of people. On Sunday, much of the federal government in Washington prepared to shutter Monday; public and private schools canceled classes; airlines rerouted flights; and Amtrak halted service in the Northeast corridor. Up and down the coast, power and cable companies warned customers of expected outages, and businesses girded for anticipated losses. Petroleum refineries along the Atlantic seaboard took a wait-and-see approach Sunday, poised to cut rates or shut down, if necessary. Officials warned New Jersey residents and business owners to prepare to shelter in place for up to a week.

The impact on the economy from what could be the largest hurricane to hit the U.S. land mass in years was impossible to project on Sunday, but was expected to be significant, experts said.

History provides examples of politicians who have prospered by capably handling natural disasters and emergencies. For example, Twitter was full of confident chatter Sunday about how New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg would reckon with a rare, hybrid storm.
.................................................. ......

View the complete article at:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/art...ight_race.html