Hurricane Sandy wrecking campaign schedules
The physical impact of Hurricane Sandy - currently on track to hit the East Coast early next week - has yet to be fully seen, but the Category 1 storm has already tallied several political casualties.
Mitt Romney, Vice President Joe Biden, and first lady Michelle Obama all on Friday cancelled campaign events that were to take place over the weekend and early next week.
A Romney rally scheduled for Sunday evening in Virginia Beach, Va., was the first to go. Although Virginia sits squarely in the middle of Sandy's anticipated strike zone, the GOP nominee's events earlier in the day in Haymarket, Va., and the University of Richmond, are currently still on.
Later Friday, Obama for America announced the vice president, who was also slated to campaign in Virginia Beach, would not be visiting Saturday with his wife, Jill Biden, and his son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, as planned. And following news that the University of New Hampshire campus will close for the storm Monday and Tuesday, Mr. Obama's campaign released another cancellation notice for a Tuesday rally on the Durham, N.H., campus with the first lady. President Obama is scheduled to be in the Granite State Saturday; Biden on Monday.
The schedule changes, the Obama campaign said in its press releases, are "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."
