Dick Morris argues Sandy is turning into a negative for Obama as he starts being held responsible for the delays, shortages and suffering. Could be!** But isn’t the most obvious way Sandy hurts Obama this: by simply lowering turnout on Tuesday. I don’t mean turnout in the affected areas. I mean turnout nationwide. We count on a crescendo of hype to drive voter participation on Election Day. But it’s the weekend before the vote and the presidential race isn’t even the lead story on the news (or main topic on SNL). Americans have lots of distractions. Sandy’s a big new one. Not everyone is civic-minded. Inevitably, some marginally attached voters will simply not go to the polls because they’ve been caught up in the Sandy drama and (partly as a result) haven’t been caught up in the presidential drama, no? Since a higher turnout generally benefits Obama, won’t that help Romney (at least a bit–but it’s a close race)? …
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** –Or Morris could just be trying to make up for going all wobbly on Romney on Friday.