°µºÚ±¬ÁÏ

What if Hurricane Sandy had waited a week to strike the East Coast? There's no contingency plan in place for rescheduling an election if a storm or terrorist attack wiped out power in multiple states while voting was taking place. Says one expert: "We'll ignore it until it happens, and when it happens, we'll figure it out."

The effects of the superstorm could hurt turnout in traditionally blue states, limiting the popular vote for President Obama. But if Obama's response to the disaster is looked upon favorably, the opposition might be less motivated to turn out.

Over the course of a long campaign, Americans have gotten a chance to learn more about President Obama. His personality and his performance as a leader, a debater and a candidate have all been under the microscope.

Governor Mitt Romney's campaign converted a Dayton, Ohio, campaign stop into a "relief" event for victims of Sandy. But it still bore many of the hallmarks of a traditional campaign event. The Romney campaign was also responding to questions about comments the Republican presidential nominee made last year about partially privatizing and devolving to states certain functions of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Any polls taken after the storm, and while millions of Americans' lives remain disrupted, carry with them a very real potential for accuracy problems, says an expert on public opinion research. In fact, he says the presidential election survey world now needs to be divided into before and after Sandy.

The latest NPR Battleground Poll shows former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney holding the narrowest of leads in the national sample, but trailing President Obama in the dozen states that will decide the election. The poll adds evidence that the Oct. 3 debate between the two men redefined the race.

A new Pew Research Center poll shows that among likely voters, the race is now a statistical dead heat with both President Obama and Mitt Romney receiving 47 percent support. And while Obama holds a slight edge among those registered to vote, a higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats say they actually plan to do so.

At a time when both presidential campaigns would typically be hitting all the swing states, some were off limits owing to Hurricane Sandy. Still, with only a week left before the election, the campaigns both had to find ways to continue their efforts while heeding Hurricane Katrina's lessons.

President Obama urged Americans in Sandy's path Monday to "please listen" to local officials, and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, urged help for those affected by the superstorm. The two candidates also canceled campaign events Monday and Tuesday.

The fearsome storm has shut down early voting in multiple states and disrupted the presidential candidates' campaign schedules. Sandy may wreak havoc as it claws up the East Coast, but voting experts say its impact may fizzle come Election Day.