After chopping off pieces of his Monday campaign schedule because of Hurricane Sandy, President Obama gave up on any campaign travel plans entirely, deciding to leave Florida and fly back to Washington, D.C. to keep tabs on the storm's progress. A few hours later, the White House then canceled his Tuesday trip to Wisconsin as well.
"Due to deteriorating weather conditions in the Washington, DC area, the President will not attend today's campaign event in Orlando, Florida," read a statement issued by the White House just before 7 a.m.
"The President will return to the White House to monitor the preparations for and early response to Hurricane Sandy," said spokesman Jay Carney.
The change in schedule for Monday - and Tuesday - means that the President will have spent four of five days (from Friday to Tuesday) off the campaign trail - with Election Day just over a week away.
His Tuesday schedule was already reduced because of Sandy, as over the weekend, Obama campaign scrapped a Tuesday event set for Colorado, but left in place a stop in Wisconsin. Now that Green Bay stop has also been postponed at a time when Mitt Romney will be campaigning in Wisconsin on Monday evening.
So, if you were looking for an October Surprise - maybe Hurricane Sandy is exactly that, helping to take the President off the campaign trail just a week before the elections.
