Hurricane Sandy Gets Ready to Hit U.S. Eastern Seaboard
As a New Yorker hunkered down in my apartment right now, bracing for what I hope will not be the monster storm they are predicting, I am also wondering how this will effect the Presidential race.
Politico has an article out this morning with the same question beginning with, of all things, Will Hurricane Sandy stop Mitt's momentum? Well, that's easy. No. It won't stop Mitt's momentum because Mitt's momentum stopped over a week ago.
It’s hard to see how the storm helps. The Republican nominee has more than closed the gap with the incumbent over the final weeks of the campaign...but...The storm will make it difficult for Romney to make the final push in states affected by the storm including Virginia, Florida and New Hampshire.
Unfortunately, it will make it difficult for Obama to campaign as well. Not to mention if this storm causes a lot of collateral damage.
Does Obama have the incumbent advantage? Unless Obama FUBAR's it up in some George W. Bush way (and can't you just see Andrea Saul in feline pounce position just waiting for anything Obama does so she can attack him?), the President has the advantage.
On Sunday, he visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s headquarters for a briefing, which is pictured prominently on the White House Website. The president, in suit and shirt with no tie, sits between FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate and Deputy Administrator Richard Serino.
Again, if the storm doesn't do a lot of damage, photo ops of the President doing his job well, sends a positive message, and also negatively reinforces Mitt's FEMA comments that have been bouncing around the media.
What about all those ads the campaigns are running?
Obviously this will effect both candidates but I'd like to think it will play worse for Romney. If for no other reason than he will not have the opportunity to play his smack in your face ad about Chrysler Jeeps in China Lie.
Romney’s campaign had already boasted of sitting on millions for a last-minute TV push.
Considering Romney is the one who needs to make the narrative push to close in on the President's lead in the swing states, this is good news for the Obama campaign. Of course, everything is dependent on the severity of the storm. But if it doesn't turn out quite as bad as they're predicting, and we still have a week to adjust, maybe this will not impact voter turnout, or GOTV leading up to November 6th.
What say you, fellow Kossacks?
http://www.politico.com/...