The presidential campaigns cautiously hit the trail again Wednesday after a hiatus for Hurricane Sandy's onslaught. But although former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama's surrogates were stumping in battleground states, the president himself was visiting New Jersey with Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican and high-profile Romney supporter who has publicly praised Obama's storm response. NBC's First Read team writes that although national polls show a dead heat in the race, the candidates' body language suggests Romney is behind. One major contributor to that sense, according to First Read, is the series of Jeep ads his campaign is airing in Ohio. Those ads' claims that auto bailout recipients are shipping jobs overseas have drawn condemnation from Democrats and auto makers themselves alike. Those ads, plus the fact that the Romney camp has begun advertising in new Democratic-leaning states, carry a whiff of desperation, First Read writes. Meanwhile, Sandy's destruction has thrown not only campaigning but also election preparation into disarray.
