USA: POLITICS - Barack Obama and Mitt Romney make final sprint to election day as Sandy's winds of uncertainty blow through U.S. presidential race

Record ID: 347757

  • Title: USA: POLITICS - Barack Obama and Mitt Romney make final sprint to election day as Sandy's winds of uncertainty blow through U.S. presidential race
  • Date: 5th November 2012
  • Summary: PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 5, 2012) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANDREW REEVES, EXPERT IN HOW NATURAL DISASTERS AFFECTS THE POLITICAL PROCESS SAYING: "When the storm hit, President Obama had to take off his campaigner in chief hat and resume the responsibilities of the presidency, and when he did that, he got to look like a leader, he was being a le
  • Embargoed: 20th November 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3FP34SBF1JM5E2ESW8QSUL673
  • Story Text: The devastating storm that slammed into the U.S. East Coast last week could send winds of uncertainty through Tuesday's presidential election, narrowing an already close contest and casting doubt on the legitimacy of the outcome.
    Though superstorm Sandy is unlikely to determine whether President Barack Obama or Republican Mitt Romney wins the White House, experts said it could expose flaws in how the United States conducts elections, leading to protracted legal wrangling and lingering bitterness in a country already fractured along partisan lines.
    In a worst-case scenario, the storm disruption could cause Obama to lose the popular vote and still win re-election, stirring up vitriolic memories of the contested 2000 battle that allowed Republican George W. Bush to triumph over Democrat Al Gore.
    Last-minute changes imposed by election officials also could further arm campaign lawyers looking to challenge the result. At minimum, low turnout would add another wild card to an election projected to be among the closest in U.S. history. Voting could be an afterthought for hundreds of thousands of people still struggling with power outages, fuel shortages and plummeting temperatures.
    Andrew Reeves, who has conducted extensive research on how natural disasters affect the political process told Reuters TV that voters are critical of how their elected officials react and handle catastrophic storms.

    "One thing that our study showed ws that when there is a natural disaster, when there is damage from a natural disaster, that if presidents and governors don't take action, than they get punished, and so the risk of inaction, the risk of appearing to be ineffectual, can end up causing the damage from the disaster to be held against them come election day."
    As much of the northeastern United States continues to recover from the effects of Sandy, officials are still dealing with the logistics of providing polling places for displaced voters. Residents in portions of New Jersey and New York will not be able to vote at their normal polling places and temporary voting locations are being set up in the region to accommodative displaced voters, following the catastrophic aftermath of Sandy. .
    As many as 143,000 New York City residents will have to find alternate polling locations on Tuesday (November 6). Residents of hard Hit Breezy point will head to Rockaway Park to vote inside large tents that have been set up outside a school. Many are struggling to acquire basic necessities such as food, water and shelter, but still have the election on their minds.
    After all the fundraising, political ads, rallies, meetings and get-out-the vote efforts, the U.S. presidential campaign has come down to its final hours.
    President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney made their final urgent pleas to voters on Monday in a closing sprint through vital battleground states that will determine who wins their agonizingly close race for the White House. Both candidates sought to whip up strong turnout from supporters and to sway independent voters to their side in the last hours of a race that polls showed was deadlocked nationally. Obama had a slight lead in the eight or nine battleground states that will decide the race on Tuesday's Election Day.
    The latest Reuters/Ipsos national poll of likely voters, a daily tracking poll, gave Obama a slight edge, with 48 percent support compared to Romney's 46 percent. The difference was within the 3.4 percentage point credibility interval, which allows for statistical variation in Internet-based polls.
    The president, with a final day itinerary that included stops in Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa, urged voters to stick with him.
    The Democratic incumbent, appearing in Madison, Wisconsin, drew a large crowd that was warmed up by Bruce Springsteen and reprised the main theme of the campaign: who can do a better job on the economy.
    Romney's final day included stops in Florida, Virginia, Ohio and New Hampshire.
    The candidates are seeking to piece together the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory in the state-by-state battle for the presidency. Despite the close national opinion polls, Obama has an easier path to victory: if he won the three states he was visiting on Monday - Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa - then he would likely carry the day.
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