Obama and Romney back on campaign trail
Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney dive back into campaigning on Thursday after the president put politics aside to spend three days managing the federal response to the superstorm that battered the east coast of the US.
Just five days from Election Day, the pair are locked in a tight contest, with both campaigns predicting victory.
However, the polls show Mr Obama with a slight edge in nine key “battleground” states that are neither reliably Republican nor Democratic.
The president is not elected according to the nationwide popular vote, but in state-by-state contests that make these states especially important in such a tight election.
The president’s advisers insist his break from campaigning had minimal impact on his standing but the Democratic campaign is seeking to make up for the lost time with a heavy travel itinerary in the coming days, including rallies in Wisconsin, Nevada and Colorado on Thursday.
The storm, named Sandy, devastated the New Jersey coast and inundated portions of New York City.
More than 70 people were killed in the late season weather fury that raked much of the Atlantic seaboard before unleashing its full power on the most densely-populated region of the US.
Sandy caused billions of dollars in damage, tens of thousands remained without power, streets were awash in flood waters, homes were destroyed and mass transit shut as subway tunnels flooded.
Obama spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said while the president remains focused on the storm recovery, the fact that the election takes place in five days is a “reality” and he will return to the trail to make the case to the American people on why they should return him to the White House for four more years.
The partisan sniping continued this week from the candidates’ surrogates and their running mates.
Much of it focused on Mr Romney’s new television and radio ads in critical Ohio which suggest carmakers General Motors and Chrysler are adding jobs in China at the expense of workers in the Midwestern swing state.
Vice President Joe Biden said the spots were “one of the most flagrantly dishonest ads I can ever remember”.
Mr Obama’s campaign planned to keep pressing its criticism of the ads as it seeks to block Mr Romney’s prospects for a breakthrough in Ohio, a state every Republican has needed to win the presidency.
Mr Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan said in a statement that “American taxpayers are on track to lose 25 billion US dollars as a result of President Obama’s handling of the auto bailout, and GM and Chrysler are expanding their production overseas”.
Republican candidate Mr Romney was campaigning on Thursday in Virginia while Mr Ryan was appearing at events in Nevada and Colorado.
Ahead of campaign events in Virginia, Mr Romney released a web video highlighting a decades-old barbecue chain in Richmond that is shutting its doors.
“When President Obama took office there was a lot of hope that things were going to change. Well, he didn’t change anything,” a woman connected to the business says in the video.
Mr Biden had two events scheduled in Iowa while Mr Obama was starting his day in Green Bay, Wisconsin, making up an event that was cancelled earlier in the week because of the storm. He had a rally planned later in Las Vegas, as well as Boulder, Colorado, a heavily Democratic area.
Aides said Mr Obama planned to mention the storm victims in his remarks.
More than 19 million people have already voted in the presidential election, either by mail or in person.
No votes will be counted until November 6, but some key states are releasing the party affiliation of those who have voted.
Democrats have an edge in votes cast in Florida, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio. Republicans have an advantage in Colorado.
