Superstorm becalms presidential campaign

KETTERING, Ohio – With Sandy spreading more storm havoc, the two presidential contenders stepped back Tuesday from overt politicking as their tight race assumed an odd limbo just a week before Election Day.

President Barack Obama remained at the White House, overseeing federal emergency efforts and receiving welcome praise from New Jersey’s Republican governor, Chris Christie, who has been one of Mitt Romney’s highest-profile surrogates. Obama announced he would tour battered New Jersey with Christie today, skipping a pair of campaign rallies.

The GOP nominee helped gather donations at an Ohio campaign stop hastily rebranded as a relief effort, then flew to Florida, where he planned to resume full-time campaigning today. Romney declined to respond when reporters asked about past statements questioning the role of the federal government in disaster relief.

After clearing his Monday night and Tuesday schedules, the Romney campaign announced three stops today in Florida, the biggest prize among the up-for-grab states; its 29 electoral votes are almost certainly a must-win for the Republican.

The White House, meanwhile, presented a portrait of Obama hard at work, releasing details of a storm briefing Tuesday morning; conference calls with nearly two dozen governors and mayors and, later, power company executives, and a photograph of the president in the Situation Room being updated on the storm.

The president received effusive praise – politically unthinkable, under normal circumstances – from Christie, who took to the morning talk shows to discuss the devastation his state suffered.

The administration has been “outstanding,” Christie said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “I want to thank the president personally.”

Asked on Fox News – before Obama’s visit was announced – about the prospect of a Romney tour, Christie replied: “I have no idea, nor am I the least bit concerned or interested. I’ve got a job to do here in New Jersey that’s much bigger than presidential politics and I could care less about any of that stuff.”

However, with the election so close, politics was never far removed, even as both White House contenders strived to appear above campaign considerations – for the day, anyway.

Romney’s critics pointed to a 2011 Republican primary debate in which he appeared to suggest getting rid of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and handing its authority over to the states. “Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction,” Romney said. “And if you can go even further, and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better.”

In fact, the agency already outsources much of its work to the private sector

Romney ignored reporters Tuesday when they repeatedly asked about FEMA as he shook hands in Ohio.

Later, the campaign issued a statement essentially calling for no change, saying Romney believed states should take the lead in responding to disasters, with help from the federal government and FEMA.