AFTERMATH – AT 8:18 A.M. ET:  Hurricane Sandy is now weakening, but still doing damage in the northeast.  New York City has been substantially disrupted, with public transit out for a second day. 

We go to the polls in a week.  It is entirely reasonable for a political blog to ask whether this massive storm will have any electoral effect.  I give you a profound answer:  Who knows?  The most immediate effects are that attention has been taken away from the race for a few days, although I expect that, especially in the vast majority of the country that was untouched by the storm, attention will return quickly.

We can speculate that President Obama will visit affected areas in the next few days, slogging through flooded areas in boots and demonstrating his brand of "leadership."  Governor Romney canceled some appearances and acted appropriately.

As we noted last night, it is quite possible that electric power will still be out in some areas on election day.  I'd imagine that's happened before, especially in rural and northern states, which can experience snowstorms in November.  There were two very close states in the path of Sandy – Virginia and New Hampshire.  We might add Pennsylvania to that.  I'd imagine Romney's poll watching team and army of lawyers are on the case, watching over election procedures in case of a disruption.

Seven more days to change history.

October 30,  2012