Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was about to go on stage in Ohio on Monday when he decided to abruptly shift the tone of his campaign given the potentially lethal impact of Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast.
With the storm bearing down, Romney cancelled campaign events scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Wisconsin, Iowa and Florida. Running mate Paul Ryan and Romney’s wife, Ann, also stepped back from campaigning.
Romney instead adopted a feel-your-pain stance, taking time to talk up Americans’ hardy can-do spirit in the face of uncertain odds. He urged people to donate to the Red Cross.
After deliberating by conference call with senior advisers - some of them traveling with Ryan and Ann Romney in several states - it was an easy call to make, aides said.
“We cancelled the events out of sensitivity for the millions of people facing hardship because of the hurricane,” said senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom.
The hurricane was the latest twist in Romney’s second White House bid. Before taking on President Barack Obama in the general election campaign, Romney spent months in a bruising Republican primary fight in which he was rarely in the lead until near the end.