MANCHESTER, N.H. -- With a massive storm threatening East Coast swing states nine days out from the election, campaigns and the reporters that cover them are at the point of jolting from state to state without necessarily ending up in the region they're expecting.
Instead of an overnight stay and a rally Monday in New Hampshire, Vice President Joe Biden will end up on the ground in the Granite State for a matter of hours, pausing long enough only to visit a local field office before jetting out of the storm's path to allow local law enforcement to prepare for Hurricane Sandy's impact.
Instead, Biden will fly to Ohio, where staff on the ground will be charged with conjuring an unexpected day of campaign activities Monday. A Biden aide says guidance on how the vice president will spend the day in the all-important swing state is "forthcoming."
Press and campaign staff were alerted of the change once Air Force Two touched down in Manchester.
"This change in schedule is being taken out of an abundance of caution to ensure that all local law enforcement and emergency management resources can stay focused on ensuring the safety of people who might be impacted by the storm," said a campaign aide.
The vice president already cancelled a planned Virginia Beach event Saturday due to weather concerns. Ann Romney and Michelle Obama have both nixed scheduled New Hampshire events in the coming days as well.
"The last thing the president and I want to do is have the campaign get in the way of anything -- the most important thing is people's safety and people's health and property being saved here," Biden told supporters in Manchester. "So we were going to just continue to detour and fly straight to Ohio, which is my next stop but I wanted to stop."
