The past week has been a whirlwind of atvtiicy. Both campaigns were put on hold in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Even so, Sandy provided Obama a way to demonstrate that he is a competent leader, which he did. Comments by Governor Christie and Mayor Bloomberg have been a one two punch for the Romney campaign as, Christie one of Romney’s surrogates and early support has given Obama good praise for his handling of the response to Sandy. Not only this but it brought to the campaign the issue of climate change, which had been all but ignored in this campaign so far. Sandy however, could have been a Katrina Moment and could have had the political impact that would have all but guaranteed a Romney victory, but the President did his job and did it well. What has been most interesting is Romney’s last minute move to compete in PA. I am not sure as to the motives, according to Mike Dowd from ABC’s This Week on Sunday stated this move and other Romney campaign messages indicating that Romney is getting desperate, and is trying anything to save the race. Mike Dowd predicted Obama getting 303 electoral votes but very possibly loosing the popular vote. Now George Will a self described Goldwater Republican predicted Romney winning and he stated a very interesting point about Colorado. Gary Johnson a libertarian is campaigning there and has been pushing the fact that he is in support to legalize marijuana even going so far as to pass out rolling papers with his face on it. George Will brought forth that this could do one of two things, take fiscal conservative but socially liberal votes from Romney or it could tap into the hippy portion of the state that would likely support Obama. In essence this 3rd party candidate could make it so there is no majority winner in Colorado but a plurality winner. This information makes Colorado a must watch in my opinion as Johnson could steal votes from either candidate and he could have a real impact on the winner. However by looking at the 538 blog it seems increasingly likely that Obama will win both the popular and electoral vote and seems to be on track for 303 electoral votes. The effects of Sandy may play into the favor of Obama in Florida where the past couple of polls have shown Obama in a dead tie with Romney or a lead except in the Insider Advantage poll which is not weighted by 538. Either way the popular vote there looks to favor Romney by .3% of the popular vote and could go either way. It seems the ground game in Florida will be crucial to each candidates success.
The past week has been a whirlwind of atvtiicy. Both campaigns were put on hold in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Even so, Sandy provided Obama a way to demonstrate that he is a competent leader, which he did. Comments by Governor Christie and Mayor Bloomberg have been a one two punch for the Romney campaign as, Christie one of Romney’s surrogates and early support has given Obama good praise for his handling of the response to Sandy. Not only this but it brought to the campaign the issue of climate change, which had been all but ignored in this campaign so far. Sandy however, could have been a Katrina Moment and could have had the political impact that would have all but guaranteed a Romney victory, but the President did his job and did it well. What has been most interesting is Romney’s last minute move to compete in PA. I am not sure as to the motives, according to Mike Dowd from ABC’s This Week on Sunday stated this move and other Romney campaign messages indicating that Romney is getting desperate, and is trying anything to save the race. Mike Dowd predicted Obama getting 303 electoral votes but very possibly loosing the popular vote. Now George Will a self described Goldwater Republican predicted Romney winning and he stated a very interesting point about Colorado. Gary Johnson a libertarian is campaigning there and has been pushing the fact that he is in support to legalize marijuana even going so far as to pass out rolling papers with his face on it. George Will brought forth that this could do one of two things, take fiscal conservative but socially liberal votes from Romney or it could tap into the hippy portion of the state that would likely support Obama. In essence this 3rd party candidate could make it so there is no majority winner in Colorado but a plurality winner. This information makes Colorado a must watch in my opinion as Johnson could steal votes from either candidate and he could have a real impact on the winner. However by looking at the 538 blog it seems increasingly likely that Obama will win both the popular and electoral vote and seems to be on track for 303 electoral votes. The effects of Sandy may play into the favor of Obama in Florida where the past couple of polls have shown Obama in a dead tie with Romney or a lead except in the Insider Advantage poll which is not weighted by 538. Either way the popular vote there looks to favor Romney by .3% of the popular vote and could go either way. It seems the ground game in Florida will be crucial to each candidates success.