USA Today: Responding to reporters, Obama said he doesn't yet think Hurricane Sandy poses a threat to Election Day. Said Obama: ‘The election will take care of itself next week. Right now, our number-one priority is to make sure that we are saving lives, that our search-and-rescue teams are going to be in place, that people are going to get the food, the water, the shelter that they need in case of emergency, and that we respond as quickly as possible to get the economy back on track.’
“Obama, who cut short a campaign trip to Florida on Monday morning to return to White House, spoke after meeting with emergency response officials. The president had planned on Monday to begin a three-day campaign swing through Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, and Wisconsin.”
“President Barack Obama the candidate stepped aside Monday so the commander in chief could take over,” the AP writes. “In the waning days of his re-election bid, the president scrapped two days of campaigning and retreated from the trail. He hunkered down at the White House to oversee the government’s response to the East Coast superstorm — and to project presidential leadership.”
More: “Obama aides insisted that was not only the right decision, but also an easy one. Even with Obama locked in a tight race with Republican Mitt Romney, the president would have risked appearing to put politics over the public’s safety had he pressed on with his travel plans. And that could have been enough to turn off some still-persuadable voters at a critical juncture in the campaign.”
The New York Daily News: “President Obama left the campaign trail to return to Washington as the storm worsened Monday morning – skipping a planned appearance with former President Bill Clinton in Orlando. He is also missing a planned stop in Youngstown, Ohio.” But: “The storm is not without its benefits for President Obama, who is given the chance to demonstrate some presidential leadership just before Election Day.”
“[W]ith a little over a week left in the race, several of the Democrats’ top independent spenders are leaning hard into the Bain message, eschewing a pure policy message for a gut-punch reminder that the former Massachusetts governor made his fortune through controversial deals in the private-equity industry,”Politico writes. “The late emphasis on Bain, Democratic strategists say, reflects both the potency of Bain as an attack against Romney in general, and the pivotal significance of Midwestern states such as Ohio where the Bain message is especially resonant.”
The Boston Globe endorsed Obama.
