The Economist: The Politics of Hurricane Sandy!!

Is Hurricane Sandy capable of altering the election result? The presidential candidates are hunkering down and trying to avoid looking partisan as this big, wet storm heads for the eastern seabord. But any number of calculations are being made by the campaigns. Plausible arguments are flying, explaining why this storm is bad news, or is it good news, for both sides. In a conference call with reporters on Monday morning, bosses at the campaign headquarters of Barack Obama in Chicago stressed that the president is focused on the storm and governing the country, and noted that he had cancelled events in storm hit states from Florida to Wisconsin. A well handled disaster can strengthen an incumbent president, just as Katrina-level bungle is a political, as well as human disaster. Mitt Romney cancelled events planned for Monday night and Tuesday, citing the need to avoid putting supporters in danger or tying up emergency services. In Virginia,,the Romney campaign also sent out a notice that it had suspended fundraising emails to the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. To be brutal, a certain amount of bad weather on election day helps conservatives in every democracy. In crude terms, car driving conservative retirees still turn out in driving rain, when bus taking lower income workers just back from a night shift are more likely to give rain soaked polls a miss. School closures are a particular problem for low income families or single mothers scrambling to find childcare. In this case, the weather is supposed to clear up well ahead of election day, but the impact could be felt in the turnout of early voters. Democrats will perceive that as bad news. The Obama campaign has pinned big hopes on increasing turnout among Obama supporting "sporadic voters", the sort of voters who give mid term elections a miss, but may turn out in presidential years.