Global warming and superstorm Sandy made a dramatic impact on the US election today when the popular mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, threw his support behind Barack Obama, citing Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s failure to back climate change measures.
Mr Bloomberg, a former Republican and now an independent, praised Mr Obama for what he termed having made some progress towards tackling climate change.
He combined his endorsement with a devastating attack on Mr Romney, who he said had supported moves against global warming in the past but had since backed away from them.
In a powerful passage, Mr Bloomberg wrote on his website: “I believe Mitt Romney is a good and decent man, and he would bring valuable business experience to the Oval Office.
"He understands that America was built on the promise of equal opportunity, not equal results. In the past he has also taken sensible positions on immigration, illegal guns, abortion rights and healthcare. But he has reversed course on all of them, and is even running against the healthcare model he signed into law in Massachusetts.
“The devastation that hurricane Sandy brought to New York City and much of the northeast - in lost lives, lost homes and lost business - brought the stakes of next Tuesday’s presidential election into sharp relief.
"Our climate is changing. And while the increase in extreme weather we have experienced in New York City and around the world may or may not be the result of it, the risk that it might be - given this week’s devastation - should compel all elected leaders to take immediate action.”
The US presidential race had resumed today with frenetic candidate schedules as polls show the most costly contest in US history could yet yield a split decision.
Some national polls give Republican Mitt Romney a slight edge in the popular vote - although well within the margin of error - while surveys show US president Barack Obama ahead in a number of the most competitive states, which would hand him an Electoral College victory and a second term in the White House.
Don Kettl, dean of the school of public policy at the University of Maryland in College Park, said he anticipates a "very, very close" popular vote outcome, and doesn't discount the possibility of a split decision between the electoral and popular votes.
Mr Obama returns to a full campaign schedule today in the wake of Hurricane Sandy with stops in Wisconsin, Nevada and Colorado. Yesterday he visited hard-hit New Jersey to survey damage with the state's governor, Chris Christie.
Mr Obama and Mr Christie set aside their political differences to offer each other praise for their responses to the storm. Mr Romney, who had scaled back campaigning this week because of the storm, returned to a full schedule yesterday as he crisscrossed Florida, the largest electoral prize among the nine states which both sides say are most likely to determine the outcome. He will be in Virginia today, another of the main battlegrounds.
The Washington Post/ABC News national tracking poll released yesterday showed Mr Romney and Mr Obama tied at 49 per cent among likely voters, based on interviews conducted from October 27th-30th. The picture looks different in state surveys, with a small but clear advantage for the president in these races.
An aggregation of polls in the nine most closely contested states, compiled by the RealClearPolitics website, gives Mr Obama the advantage in Ohio, Wisconsin, Nevada, Iowa and New Hampshire.
Wins by Mr Obama in those states, as well as in the others across the nation which most analysts have predicted he will carry, would give him 281 electoral votes, 11 more than needed for a second term. The website's aggregation of polls for other swing states shows Colorado a virtual tie - with Mr Obama up by 0.6 percentage points – and Mr Romney ahead in Florida, Virginia and North Carolina.
A separate aggregation of polls on the Huffington Post shows Mr Obama leading in seven of the nine states, with Mr Romney having the advantage in Florida and North Carolina.
A Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll published today shows Mr Obama holds a 49 per cent to 46 per cent advantage in Wisconsin among likely voters, and a 49 per cent to 47 per cent lead in New Hampshire.
In Iowa, the president is up 50 per cent to 44 per cent. The surveys were conducted October 28th-29th and have margins of error ranging from plus or minus 2.9 percentage points to plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
A poll released yesterday in Ohio, the state where the campaigns are competing the most aggressively, showed Mr Obama slightly ahead. The President was backed by 48 per cent of likely voters in the Ohio Poll, which is sponsored by the University of Cincinnati, while Mr Romney had the support of 46 per cent.
Mr Romney has struggled to overcome an electoral map that works against him, in part because many of the country's most populous states - including California and New York - lean towards being Democratic.
Romney aides say they remain confident about their chances in Ohio and see an opportunity to expand the number of states in play. "We feel like we're confident we're on offence and that we're in a great position to win on election day," spokesman Kevin Madden told reporters on Mr Romney's campaign jet yesterday.
Mr Obama's political advisers sought to project confidence even as most national polls showed the race deadlocked. "At this time next week, President Obama will have been re-elected for a second term," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said on a conference call yesterday.
In the campaign's closing days, Mr Obama is scheduled to make stops in Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Virginia, New Hampshire, Florida and Colorado, before spending election night in Chicago. While Mr Romney's travel schedule isn't completely set, aides said he's likely to use his final days to campaign in the main battleground states.
They left open the possibility of a surprise visit to one of the three he is trying to put into play. Mr Romney plans to end his campaign with an evening rally on November 5th in Manchester, New Hampshire, the state where he first declared his candidacy and where he owns a vacation home.
Mr Obama was to have started his closing argument on Monday during a rally in Florida, but he skipped that event to return to Washington to help co-ordinate storm relief. The President has not given a traditional campaign speech since Saturday - an unusually long period this close to Election Day - but has remained in the public eye with daily remarks in Washington and a trip to New Jersey to survey storm damage.
Mr Obama won the 2008 election using the themes of "hope" and "change," which resonated with voters disgruntled with the policies of Republican President George W Bush. This year, Mr Obama used "Forward" as his slogan, but his message - and that of his surrogates - has included stinging attacks on Mr Romney, a former private equity executive and Massachusetts governor.
Republicans charge that Mr Obama's message has been negative because his record on the economy is weak. Democrats counter that Mr Romney, who has levelled his share of negative attacks at Mr Obama, has twisted the truth about the president's record and run away from his own.
While Mr Obama starts a tour of swing states including Nevada, Colorado and Ohio, his campaign is focusing intensely on its get-out-the-vote effort, which Democrats believe will give them an edge on election day.
Guardian service/Agencies