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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Hurricane Sandy is set to blow Obama and Romney campaigns right off course - Election will take a back seat to “perfect storm” as it blows in

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Hurricane Sandy is set to blow Obama and Romney campaigns right off course - Election will take a back seat to “perfect storm” as it blows in

Posted on Sunday, October 28, 2012 at 08:23 AM

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Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy is barreling up the East Coast as I write and it is surely an unexpected nightmare for both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

They had probably prepared for every eventuality this last full week of campaigning and thought long and hard of every possible new wrinkle in a close fought race.

Except for a hurricane barreling up the East Coast sending everyone fleeing coastal areas like rats.

Just imagine if it had hit a week later and interfered with voting in the presidential election?

(And whose idea was it anyway to have elections in November right on the shoulder of bad weather season?)

How will President Obama and Mitt Romney play it? It seems to offer both men a poisoned chalice.

Sure Obama can look presidential and comforter in chief when the storm hits and he will almost certainly visit a disaster areas in its aftermath.

But he has to be extremely careful not to play politics overtly with a possible tragedy.

Remember George Bush and his disastrous reaction to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, which dogged his presidency forever?

In addition, if early voting is hit in states that are toss ups that are in the path of the storm, it will disproportionately affect his voters who have been winning the early voting turnout.

For Mitt Romney, who had been experiencing a boost in recent national polls but still trails in key battlegrounds, the storm could have the effect freezing the race for the length of the storm.

He also knows it also gives his opponent the opportunity to look presidential and Obama has impressed on such occasions like in the aftermath of the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords.

So neither man will be happy with the weather Gods for throwing one yet more unpredictable X factor into the final week of campaigning. But that’s what they face.

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18 comments

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jamieLM | Oct 29, 2012, 10:12 AM EDT

I wish Hurricane Sandy would blow all those obnoxious Dem/Rep political ads off my TV. I'm so sick of all of them.

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Eschetic | Oct 29, 2012, 01:09 AM EDT

A storm like this is an almost inevitable tragedy for all concerned, but should serve as the clincher in a close election for the candidate who has spent his entire career working for the welfare of localities and who won't recall the disastrous presidential inaction and non-leadership of FEMA following Katrina. Put aside the partisan sniping from both sides and watch how a good president becomes a great president in moments if well handled crisis.

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bonjouryall | Oct 28, 2012, 07:14 PM EDT

My hope is that the great American experiment with presidents that look like Alfred E. Newman will be over. Two are enough!

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SherryKay | Oct 28, 2012, 06:54 PM EDT

So,as far as I'm concerned Hurricane Sandy can blow big mouth lying con artist Willard Mittens & Queen Horsey Ann Romney and their five useless sons,their fancy dancing prancing horsey and Mini_Mitt Lying Paul Ryan out to sea and drown all of these pathetic GOP/Tea Party Losers.

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jflanagan | Oct 28, 2012, 05:08 PM EDT

I've been opining that a teacher would grade President Obama as intelligent but doesn't work well with others. Neera Tanden, Obama's Domestic Policy Advisor for his first campaign seems to agree with that in comments she was given credit for in a story for New York Magazine: Clinton, being Clinton, had plenty of advice in mind and was desperate to impart it. But for the first two years of Obama’s term, the phone calls Clinton kept expecting rarely came. “People say the reason Obama wouldn’t call Clinton is because he doesn’t like him,” observes Tanden. “The truth is, Obama doesn’t call anyone, and he’s not close to almost anyone. It’s stunning that he’s in politics, because he really doesn’t like people. My analogy is that it’s like becoming Bill Gates without liking computers.” Maybe that's why he doesn't get things done with Congress, if you don't like people and don't call them there is nothing discussed and compromised on.

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Pittsburghkid | Oct 28, 2012, 04:25 PM EDT

Sandy is God's October Surprise. Obama will goof this up like he messed up Lybia.

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cillowen | Oct 28, 2012, 03:22 PM EDT

repug nelsom rockfeller advised us to hide under our desks and the atom blast would blow over -what's the mormon's solution?

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Ms.Gail | Oct 28, 2012, 02:16 PM EDT

Some good laughs among the comments!

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Towngate | Oct 28, 2012, 02:02 PM EDT

Hooligan6a; With your fantastically buoyant attitude you should make for Port and stand for President yourself. Failing that, you could act as literary bodyguard to out besieged Editor and for good measure, you can scupper your sailboat; using the testicular-obsessed Batty BippyBellito as ballast!

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bob40wil | Oct 28, 2012, 01:52 PM EDT

Bonjouryall, so size does matter. ;)

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judiron | Oct 28, 2012, 01:09 PM EDT

No one wants a hurricane but at least it will shut up the politians. Amen

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BippyBellito | Oct 28, 2012, 12:58 PM EDT

This storm will allow the Coward Obama to once again lead from behind. He's the one hiding under his bed. What an incredibly weak and disappointimg "man". The only ones in his administration with any testicular character are the females. For ANY Man to support Obama is in itself UnManLY.

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crny925 | Oct 28, 2012, 11:33 AM EDT

I think Obama should be worrying about the Benghazi cover up in Libya and should honestly resign; never mind campaigning! He's a disgrace to the presidency and to the American people! and yes, Niall; you should really know why the elections are held in November... FGS!!!! You really baffle me most of the time, if not all of the time!!!

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bonjouryall | Oct 28, 2012, 11:00 AM EDT

P.S. hooligan6a, you and your sailboat do have my best wishes.

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mreinhar2001 | Oct 28, 2012, 10:59 AM EDT

Good Grief, Niall, you should have learned why US elections are held in November i your Citizenship classes. (Are you a US citizen, yet? I do not know. If you aren't you will learn that when you take your classes.) Briefly: the date of the presidential elections were determined by individual states in the 1800s. Federal law indicated that the electors for the electoral college were to meet in the individual states on the first Wednesday of December. And according to a 1792 federal law, the elections in the states (which would choose the electors) had to be held within a 34-day period before that day. So, November was the logical choice. It especially worked in our agrarian society of the 1800s. The harvest was concluded and the harshest of winter weather had not arrived, but then the train and telegraph came! With each state having a slightly different date for the presidential election, people could easily travel from one state to another and vote in different elections to influence the outcome of the federal election (Don't forget the Irish slogan in American elections "Vote early, vote often, vote Irish!" You will learn that one in citizenship classes.) If people were not so unscrupulous as to travel form place to place voting in different states, just hearing, by telegraph, how another state voted in the presidential election could influence the outcome in other states (the same has been seen with television in the last 30 years). So, in the early 1840s Congress decided to make a standardized date for holding presidential elections across the country. So, as of today and for many decades previous, Federal law in the United States requires that the presidential election be held every four years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. To answer your question, it was the idea of the United States congress "to have elections in November right on the shoulder of bad weather season."

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