Storm creates pact between Obama, tough critic

WASHINGTON (AP) — The superstorm-forced timeout in the bitter presidential contest between Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney ends Thursday as the president returns to campaigning with a vengeance, resuming the political battle in the glow of a new and bipartisan friendship between the White House incumbent and one of his loudest Republican critics as they teamed up to tour the ravages of nature's assault on America's Atlantic Ocean coast and comfort victims.

Obama's return to campaigning will free Romney to resume his harsh assault on the president's record. Romney had muted criticism of his opponent as Obama shunned politics for three days straight to devote full time to managing the crisis. The storm, named Sandy, devastated the New Jersey coast and inundated portions of New York City. At least 50 people were killed in the late season weather fury that raked much of the Atlantic seaboard before unleashing its full power on the most densely populated region of the United States. Sandy caused billions of dollars in damage, tens of thousands remained without power, streets were awash in flood waters, homes were destroyed and mass transit shut as subway tunnels flooded.

Unexpectedly in the crisis, Obama and firebrand Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie formed a mutual admiration society, praising one another for their handling of the aftermath and exuding the bipartisan cooperation that polls show American voters are longing for in what has become one of the most hyper-polarized eras in U.S. political history.

But with just five days remaining before the Nov. 6 election it was impossible to forecast what effect Obama's retreat from the campaign to assume his job as a caring and get-things-done crisis manager would have on a White House battle that shows him and Romney in a virtual tie.

While polls show Obama and Romney knotted up in the nationwide popular vote, most surveys indicate the president is maintaining leads in many of the all-important battleground states — the nine states that aren't yet seen as firmly behind either candidate. The U.S. president is not elected according to the nationwide popular vote but in state-by-state contests.

Still consumed by efforts to ameliorate the devastation of Sandy, Obama flew to New Jersey where he was met at the Atlantic City airport by Christie. The men then boarded the president's helicopter for an airborne inspection tour of the devastation.

Back on the ground, the president introduced one local woman to "my guy Craig Fugate." In a plainspoken demonstration of the power of the presidency, Obama instructed the man at the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a 7,500-employee federal agency, to "make sure she gets the help she needs" immediately.

And later, the two men spoke of one another in glowing terms.

"He has sprung into action immediately," said Christie.

Said Obama of the governor, "He has put his heart and soul into making sure the people of New Jersey bounce back stronger than before."

The storm had forced an abrupt change in Romney's campaign, as well.

In Tampa, the Republican challenger said, "We love all of our fellow citizens. We come together at times like this, and we want to make sure that they have a speedy and quick recovery from their financial and, in many cases, personal loss." His criticism of Obama was glancing. "I don't just talk about change. I actually have a plan to execute change and make it happen."

Romney spent the full day in the state, campaigning with former Gov. Jeb Bush. It was an unusual commitment of time in the final days of a close race, and an indication that Republicans view the state and its 29 electoral votes as anything but secure.

Despite the tour and Romney's own expressions of sympathy for storm victims, a new controversy was swirling over the Republican challenger's new television and radio ads in Ohio.

"Desperation," Vice President Joe Biden said of the broadcast claims that suggested automakers General Motors and Chrysler were adding jobs in China at the expense of workers in Ohio, where one in eight jobs are said to depend on the auto industry. "One of the most flagrantly dishonest ads I can ever remember."

Republicans were unrepentant as Romney struggled for a breakthrough in the Midwest.

"American taxpayers are on track to lose $25 billion as a result of President Obama's handling of the auto bailout, and GM and Chrysler are expanding their production overseas," said an emailed statement issued in the name of Republican running mate Paul Ryan.

Independent fact-checkers have ripped the implicit dishonesty of the Republican claims.

Romney's shifting stances on a number of key issues have haunted his campaign. After the superstorm battered the East Coast, Romney was sounding far more supportive of federal government assistance to states ravaged by the natural disaster. Only last year, as Romney leaned to the right while battling for the Republican nomination, he appeared to suggest in a debate that the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be shuttered and its responsibilities left to the states.

Romney's position put forward Wednesday essentially endorsed the current disaster aid system.

As Obama returns to political travel on Thursday, Romney's campaign was airing ads in Minnesota and Pennsylvania, two states long considered safe for the president. The Republican's allies also are broadcasting commercials in Michigan and New Mexico.