Obama and Christie Tour Devastated Area
by SARA MURRAY and JANET HOOK and HEATHER HADDON, online.wsj.comOctober 31st 2012 5:39 AM
President Barack Obama flew over a devastated New Jersey coastline Wednesday with the state's Republican governor, Chris Christie, creating a rare, bipartisan moment ahead of the president's planned pivot to campaigning in the final days before Tuesday's election.
Mr. Christie, a supporter of Republican candidate Mitt Romney and a critic of the president, joined Mr. Obama on the presidential helicopter to survey flattened homes and streets under water. They offered each other mutual praise for their response to the storm, an example of how quickly strange bedfellows can be made by the power of forces beyond any party's control.
Mr. Romney, who like the president had paused his campaigning as the storm moved up the East Coast, returned to the campaign trail Wednesday in Florida. His closing argument to voters has challenged the notion that Mr. Obama is a bipartisan problem-solver.
"I will bring real change and real reform and a presidency that brings us together," Mr. Romney said at a rally in Florida.
GOP leaders said the image of Mr. Christie, a prominent Republican, standing with the president would have no effect on Mr. Romney's campaign.
"Gov. Christie is doing his job," said Russ Schriefer, a top Romney adviser, in a conference call with reporters. "He is the governor of a state that has been hit by a very, very horrific storm.''
Rep. Rob Andrews, a Democrat who represents a district in southwestern New Jersey, said, "It's two public servants doing their jobs very well. To their credit, I don't think either is taking politics into account.''
Nonetheless, the bipartisan tableau had clear political import, challenging one of Mr. Romney's arguments: that he, as Massachusetts governor, showed more skill at working across party lines than Mr. Obama has demonstrated as president.
Mr. Christie's praise was a stark contrast to his attacks on Mr. Obama in the past. After Tropical Storm Irene last year, Mr. Christie urged the president to "finally stop being a bystander in the Oval Office" and to "shake off the paralysis that has made it impossible for him to take on the really big things."
As keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention, Mr. Christie said the nation lacked leadership. "You see, Mr. President, real leaders don't follow polls,'' he said. "Real leaders change polls.''
The governor struck a different tone on Wednesday. Appearing with Mr. Obama in Brigantine, N.J., after their tour of the state, Mr. Christie praised their "great working relationship.'' Mr. Obama said the governor had "put his heart and soul'' into storm response.
Those who follow Mr. Christie's actions as governor weren't surprised by the day's events. "I think it's just genuine Christie," said David Redlawsk, director of the Rutgers Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling. "Christie is certainly a political guy, but he's a guy who just speaks his mind. At this point, he's talking to a New Jersey audience."
Mr. Romney on Wednesday campaigned across Florida, a state his advisers believe is leaning in their favor, though polls have shown a dead heat. At the same time, his allies pushed to put new states into contention.
On Wednesday, the group Americans for Prosperity said it would spend $3 million on ads in Pennsylvania and Michigan aimed at defeating Mr. Obama. Both states have been considered safe territory for the president, but Republicans say that tighteningpolls suggest they have an opportunity in both.
Mr. Romney's campaign has already bought airtime in Pennsylvania, and a super PAC backing him, Restore Our Future, is buying airtime in Minnesota and New Mexico, in a bid to expand the list of competitive states.
"We're playing offense with the map, whereas they're playing defense," said Kevin Madden, an adviser to the Romney campaign.
While Mr. Romney's campaign staff said they could win such states, Mr. Romney's travel schedule is focusing on this year's familiar battlegrounds, with visits set for Florida, Wisconsin, Virginia and Ohio.
Over the weekend, nearly 100 campaign surrogates are schedule to fan out across battleground states, including more difficult targets, such as Michigan and Pennsylvania. That roster doesn't include other states the campaign's allies say they are targeting, such as Minnesota and New Mexico.
In a lighthearted expression of his confidence, senior Obama adviser David Axelrod made a bet on MSNBC's "Morning Joe": He pledged to shave his trademark mustache of 40 years on the show if the president loses Minnesota, Pennsylvania or Michigan.
In the battleground state of Ohio, controversy continued over the Romney campaign's advertisements that say Chrysler Group LLC will build Jeep vehicles in China. The Obama campaign has said that Mr. Romney is trying to "scare'' Ohio auto workers through the ads and a statement on the campaign trail last week, since refuted by Chrysler, that Jeep jobs would move to China.
Late Tuesday, GM spokesman Greg Martin responded to the Romney ads, saying that the political campaign has entered a "parallel universe" and that "no amount of campaign politics at its cynical worst will diminish our record of creating jobs in the U.S."
"Their comments don't refute anything in our ads," Jonathan Burks, deputy policy director for the Romney campaign, said in an interview Wednesday.
The ads have been criticized in a series of editorials in Ohio newspapers. On Thursday, the Toledo Blade will run another one headlined, "Romney's cynical fictions about the U.S. auto industry insult the voters of Ohio and Michigan.''
Write to Janet Hook at janet.hook@wsj.com, Sara Murray at sara.murray@wsj.com and Heather Haddon at heather.haddon@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
Mitt Romney campaigned in Florida on Wednesday. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said he also appeared in Virginia.
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