Obama Leads the Cleanup after the Storm as Romney Attends Rallies in Florida

A few more days before the presidential election and the presidential candidates spent the day in contrasting manner. President Barack Obama joined New Jersey’s Republican governor visit areas hit by Sandy. His rival Mitt Romney spent the day at rallies in Florida.

The destruction caused by Sandy allowed President Obama to show an image of a president in charge during a crisis. The two presidential candidates are still tied in the polls and the President Obama is trying to get an advantage over his Republican rival Romney, whose momentum has slowed down.

President Obama took a helicopter ride to assess the damage in New Jersey. He was accompanied by Governor Chris Christie, who is a known Romney supporter. The Republican governor praised the president for expediting federal storm relief for states affected by Sandy.

Governor Christie said that it is important to have a president that acknowledges all the suffering in his state and he appreciates what the president has done after the storm hit the nation. Christie is a known partisan politician and his statement surprised a lot of people. He was a keynote speaker at the Republican convention last August and has joined Romney at rallies.

Obama has a slight lead in most of the swing states that would decide the outcome of the presidential election. The winning candidate needs to get at least 270 electoral votes. President Obama scrapped three days of campaign events to take care of the areas affect by the storm. The move improved his standing with voters.

Romney visited Florida, which is one of the swing states. He toned down his remarks for the second day in a row in order to avoid being too political after the storm shut down power and transportation in the East Coast. His messages were about a change in the course as well as bringing Americans together.