(CNN) - Mitt Romney is deploying his campaign bus in Virginia on Monday, but not so that the Republican presidential candidate can make his closing arguments in the battleground state.
With eight days remaining until Election Day and a major storm slamming the East Coast, Romney is putting some of his resources onto preparation and relief efforts. President Barack Obama, meanwhile, canceled Monday and Tuesday campaign events and returned to the White House to monitor the storm and federal government response.
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"Governor Romney's concern is the safety and well-being of those in the path of Hurricane Sandy," Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said Monday morning.
The campaign is loading supplies into a campaign bus for delivery in Virginia. In Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania - all battleground states in the presidential campaign and all expected to be impacted by this storm - Team Romney is collecting supplies at their campaign offices for local relief efforts.
Obama's campaign said is watching the storm and continuing to focus on the election in areas where the storm is not hitting.
"The campaign is closely monitoring the storm and we are taking all necessary precautions to make sure our staff and volunteers are safe," spokesman Adam Fetcher said. "Where it's safe to do so, our historic grassroots organization is running at full speed in eastern battleground states to persuade undecided voters and get our supporters out to the polls between now and Election Day."
Both campaigns launched digital efforts, posting links to the Red Cross' donations site to their websites and social media pages.
Both Romney and President Barck Obama's campaign said they were suspending email fundraising messages to supporters from Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia, CNN reported on Sunday.
The candidates modified their campaign schedules, pulling out of or canceling about a dozen events between them. Romney scrapped several Sunday events in Virginia and campaigns on Monday in Ohio, Iowa, and Wisconsin.
Obama returned on Monday to the White House to monitor the storm and federal response. Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Monday that Obama would meet with top administration and cabinet officials.
– CNN White House Correspondent Dan Lothian contributed to this report
From CNN Politics
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Obama: Doing the business of the country.
Mittens: Clown bus full of pretense.
CNN: Focused on Mittens.
Any questions?
He has no any official capacity unless he want to act as a president for a day or two dream on Mitt is not presidential material cannot be trusted with anything and has no core value what is highly required for the POTUS. Everyone stay safe we have a leader who is practical and really cares about all people
obama can blame sandy for not getting all those inter city voters to the poll because acorn members could not get to the van...
Awesome. And what is Barry doing? Making a speech? It will be refreshing to have someone who's not a political hack in the White House....
This is clearly an attempt by the Romney campaign to make him look presidential. Mittens can keep his cheap bottle water from the dollar store.
When he is campaigning today, I wonder if he tells the people he would cut out FEMA .
Hope they stay out of the way of 1st responders and others. Glad we have a pres. who knows how to work with FEMA!!
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
Anyone who doesn't see Mittens for who he is should not be getting close to that voting machine. This dude is the phoniest individual i've ever seen.
mitt said earlier this year that he would reduce/eliminate disaster relief funding.....now again he'll probable change is mind to aline with the current circumstances
is it only the rest of the world who sees Mitt's revolving talk to what suits the audience? do pple not do their research, homework....and see what mitt actually has said, although i do admit it is difficult to see what he stands for because he has changed his platform sooo many times.
pple wake up......he changed from a severe right wing conservative to a moderate politician overnight, do u really think he changed or maybe....as the rest of us around the world can see, he realized that what he was running on wasn't working and now he is echoing obama.....apparently there is a lot of naive pple out there who have fallen for it....again as you did for bush...twice (although both elections were suspicious) as i suspect this election will also be considering tagg romney has rights to the voting machines, although i'm not even sure how that is legal, let alone a huge conflict of interest, that apparently the media does not care about.
amen.....mitt is a phony....has changed his rhetoric more than I change clothes and still, the duped will be duped
Awesome! Good for him. He's already making a difference.. less talk and more action! Meanwhile .. Barack Obama will be telling us what we already know... what the media has been telling us for days ... at a press conference... diverting media attention from the storm to him.
GRANDSTANDING!! DID NOT SEE THE ROMNEY BUS DURING OTHER CATASTROPHIES> OBAMA 2012 and vote the republicans out
"Awesome. And what is Barry doing? Making a speech? It will be refreshing to have someone who's not a political hack in the White House...."
ARTICLE: "President Barack Obama, meanwhile, canceled Monday and Tuesday campaign events and returned to the White House to monitor the storm and federal government response."
Obama is busy meeting with the appropriate officials from FEMA and other gov't agencies, and likely the military and National Guard as well, who are responsible for helping respond to these natural disaster situations. Mittens is making a show of filling his campaign bus with bottled water and canned food in order to try to look "presidential" and "concerned about how this will effect people." YOU are exactly the type of person that CNN's is targetting by focusing on Mittens' political machinations instead of what Obama, as the sitting POTUS, is doing. Reality: Mittens is the one being silly and political with his empty gestures here, not Obama.
I suggest that both campaigns donate the remainder of their election funds to support the relief efforts of the storm. all votes are decided anyway. Do something positive and helpful.
Ann Romney summed it up when she said that the only thing she worries about with Mtt being the POTUS is "his MENTAL HEALTH". Yikes! That is not the president this country needs! He would melt down during a crises!
OBAMA Forward!
Mitt Romney might want to sit this storm out and let it wind itself down. Americans generally don't like pandering during a disaster. Obama is the President and must needs handle the situation accordingly.
At this point, Romney can do nothing more then next day quarterbacking. Which over the course of this past year has proven ... is not a position Romney is very good at.
Mittens, scares the mittens off me.
At least Mitt is trying to be prepared to help these people. Obama went back to the white house to wait and see what happens. Romney is prepared to be in the middle helping... A lot better than Katrina or Benghazi.
Romney / Ryan 2012!!! Oh, I just added those exclamation marks too... do ya see them?
so what is Mitt going to do..tell everyone to call 211 like he did that woman in Louisiana? What a joke.
@ Sniffit:
Obama: Doing the business of the country.
Mittens: Clown bus full of pretense.
CNN: Focused on Mittens.
Any questions?
-------------------------------------------------
Nope. None at all.
Typicalman you are not!
Ugly words and judging people doesn't help you one bit. Dem. just wish O could be half the man Gov Romney is. Mitt always takes the high road, Dems wouldn't even think of doing that. A fine man vs someone who doesnt want to be told he is wrong. You have no idea what he does and says in that WH.
Willard, I don't see your bus in Hampton Virginia where there is massive flooding. Oh i forgot, those people are part of the 47% and mainly President Obama supporters. I guess they don't matter.
Sending his bus is campaigning!! thought he was going to halt that.......
"I suggest that both campaigns donate the remainder of their election funds to support the relief efforts of the storm. all votes are decided anyway. Do something positive and helpful."
I can agree with the sentiment, but I believe that would be highly illegal and a prohibited use of the funds.
Romney wants people to donate $10 to hurricane relief? What a joke! His campaign donations have been recycled to his staff by the hundreds of millions. His top staff were revealed to have most of the contracts for his campaign.