Hurricane Sandy Aftermath

First of all, if you're looking to help out, here's a link to the Red Cross and I know Catholic Charities has an excellent reputation as well with disaster relief at the like. If there are any more good suggestions of places to help out, please leave them in the comments. (I know I occupy like a tiny corner of the wide, crazy world of the Internet but on the off chance people read this, I'm all for paying some good Karma forward for folks out East. They could use it today.)

Second of all: I followed a lot of the reports from New York City last night and this was bad- as this morning is only proving as people start to take stock of the destruction. Weather Nerd has been getting amazing info out there as the storm and its aftermath progresses, Atlantic Wire has some pictures of the devastation and a Live Wire worth following for updates.

Third of all: The big ugly thing that people are dancing around- the Election. As Governor Christie so eloquently put it today:

“I don’t give a damn about Election Day. It doesn’t matter a lick to me at the moment. I’ve got bigger fish to fry,” a solemn Christie told reporters during a morning briefing in which he outlined the damage from Sandy.

I'm sure that's the attitude of everyone dealing with the aftermath of this horrible storm today which is 100% understandable. Nobody wants to talk politics after something like this- but people are wondering. Slate has some potential answers. (Seems to be something up to the state/local level more than anything else. Keep an eye on things as we get closer to Election Day.)

Personally, I think it's too soon to tell how this is going to shake out. It's an opportunity for President Obama to look Presidential and demonstrate competence in dealing with this (so far, so good- disaster declarations for New York and New Jersey are already signed, I believe) and Mittens has to be careful with his sudden influx of 'Disaster Relief' stops otherwise he'll get tagged for politicizing the tragedy which is not something you want a week out from Election Day.

Had Sandy hit Delaware and Eastern PA more than New York and New Jersey, there might be some real electoral implications to consider as anything that effects turnout in PA (with either heavy damage in Philly or lots of snow/flooding in Western PA) could swing it one way or the other- but Virginia bears some watching. I doubt either New York or New Jersey were in any danger of becoming swing states (New Jersey numbers I found on RealClearPolitics last night had Obama up 10) but anything that depresses turnout could throw New Jersey wide open. It's just too soon to tell.

We'll have to see what develops over the next couple of days but my gut feeling is that this is going to act as a pause button for the race more than anything else. Barring some as yet undemonstrated act of gross incompetence on the part of the Obama Administration or Mittens being unbelievably callous and going back into full-tilt campaign mode before he should, I doubt there's much advantage to be gained for either side messing with this- and attempts to do so will undoubtedly backfire, very badly. Everybody should try and resist the temptation to win votes, roll up their sleeves and get to work. This Hurricane cold-cocked the East Coast last night- now is not the time for politics.

And finally: Ice T's wife Coco has weighed in. Just thought everybody should know that. :-)