Chris Christie's Praise For Obama Frustrated Romney Campaign: Report

Romney insiders told Politico this week that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was Mitt Romney's first choice for the vice president, until he decided Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) would be a safer choice due to some problems with Christie.

The information comes just days before the 2012 election and was released in a story on Saturday, adding another narrative to the campaign as Romney and Ryan make their final pitch to voters. But it also comes during a week in which Christie has repeatedly praised President Barack Obama for his help during superstorm Sandy -- a move that, according to Politico, rankled the Romney campaign and could lead to tension should he become president:

From Politico:

In typical Christie fashion, there has been nothing understated about his role at each critical point, culminating with his tour with President Barack Obama on Marine One this week as they surveyed Sandy's havoc along the Jersey Shore.

...

The differences were papered over. Now, some Romney friends and donors are irked by Christie's embrace of Obama this week, which one referred to as 'over the top."

"If Romney wins, it won't be forgotten,' the adviser said. "If Romney loses, it doesn't matter."

Despite endorsing Romney early in the race and campaigning for him, when asked whether he had asked Romney to visit the state, Christie kept the focus on the damage to New Jersey in the wake of the storm. "If you think right now I give a damn about presidential politics, then you don't know me," he said on "Fox and Friends" Tuesday.

Read the full Politico story here.

WATCH: Chris Rock's Message For White Voters

With election day nearly upon us, Brooklyn native Chris Rock wanted to take an opportunity to address white voters while Jimmy Kimmel is still in town doing "Live!"

So he came on the show and delivered a very special, PSA-style message to everyone out there who may feel like Obama is just too Black a candidate for them.

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Obama Seems To Have Early Lead In Key States

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama heads toward Election Day with an apparent lead over Republican Mitt Romney among early voters in key states that could decide the election.

Obama's advantage, however, isn't as big as the one he had over John McCain four years ago, giving Romney's campaign hope that the former Massachusetts governor can erase the gap when people vote on Tuesday.

About 25 million people already have voted in 34 states and the District of Columbia. No votes will be counted until Election Day but several battleground states are releasing the party affiliation of people who have voted early.

So far, Democratic voters outnumber Republicans in Florida, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio ' five states that could decide the election, if they voted the same way. Republicans have the edge in Colorado, which Obama won in 2008.

Obama dominated early voting in 2008, building up such big leads in Colorado, Florida, Iowa and North Carolina that he won each state despite losing the Election Day vote, according to voting data compiled by The Associated Press.

"In 2008, the McCain campaign didn't have any mobilization in place to really do early voting," said Michael McDonald, an early voting expert at George Mason University who tallies voting statistics for the United States Elections Project. "This time around the Romney campaign is not making the same mistake as the McCain campaign did."

McDonald said he sees a shift toward Republicans among early voters, which could make a difference in North Carolina, which Obama won by the slimmest of margins in 2008, only 14,000 votes. The Republican shift, however, might not be enough to wipe out Obama's advantage in Iowa and Nevada, which Obama won more comfortably in 2008.

In Colorado, Florida and Ohio, get ready for a long night of vote counting on Tuesday.

Romney's campaign aides say they are doing so much better than McCain did four years ago that Romney is in great shape to overtake Obama in many of the most competitive states.

"They are underperforming what their 2008 numbers were and we are overperforming where we were in 2008," said Rich Beeson, Romney's political director. "We feel very good heading into the Tuesday election."

Obama's campaign counters that Romney can't win the presidency simply by doing better than McCain.

"It's not about whether or not they're doing better than John McCain did," said Jeremy Bird, Obama's national field director. "It's about whether or not they're doing better than us."

About 35 percent of voters are expected to cast ballots before Tuesday, either by mail or in person.

Voters always can cross party lines when they vote for any office, and there are enough independent voters in many states to swing the election, if enough of them vote the same way. Still, both campaigns are following the early voting numbers closely, using them to gauge their progress and plan their Election Day strategies.

A look at early voting in the tightest states:

___

Colorado

About 1.5 million people have voted, and Republicans outnumber Democrats 37 percent to 35 percent. Those numbers are a reversal from four years ago at this time. Inevitably, Obama won the early vote by 9 percentage points in 2008, giving him a big enough cushion to win the state, despite narrowly losing the Election Day vote.

Early voting in Colorado is expected to account for about 80 percent of all votes cast, giving it more weight than in other states.

___

Florida

About 3.5 million people have voted, and 43 percent were Democrats and 40 percent were Republicans. For years ago at this time, Democratic early voters had a 9 percentage point lead over Republicans.

Obama won Florida's early vote by 10 percentage points in 2008, getting 400,000 more early votes than McCain, enough to offset McCain's advantage on Election Day.

In Florida, Republicans have historically done better among people who vote by mail, while Democrats have done better among people who vote early in person. For 2012, Florida's Republican-led Legislature reduced the number of in-person early voting days from 14 to eight.

The Obama campaign responded by encouraging more supporters to vote by mail, and Democrats were able to narrow the gap among mail ballots. Democrats quickly took the lead among all early voters, once in-person early voting started. But the margins are slim.

The Obama campaign acknowledges it must do better among Florida's Election Day voters than Obama did on 2008, when McCain won the Election Day vote by 5 percentage points.

___

Iowa

About 584,000 people have voted, already exceeding Iowa's total number of early votes in 2008. So far this year, 43 percent of early voters were Democrats and 32 percent were Republicans.

Four years ago, Obama won the early vote in Iowa by a whopping 27 percentage points, 63 percent to 36 percent. McCain, meanwhile, won the Election Day vote by about 1,800 votes ' less than a percentage point. Together, they added up to a 10-point victory for Obama.

Romney's campaign argues that Democrats always do better among early voters in Iowa while Republicans do better among Election Day voters, even when President George W. Bush narrowly carried the state in 2004.

Obama's campaign counters that with early voting on the rise, Romney will be left with fewer Election Day voters to make up the difference.

___

Nevada

About 627,000 people have voted, and 44 percent were Democrats and 37 percent were Republicans. Four years ago, Obama won Nevada's early vote big, 59 percent to 39 percent. Obama also won Nevada's Election Day vote on his way to a comfortable 13-point win over McCain.

The Romney campaign argues that Obama isn't doing nearly as well among early voters in Nevada as he did in 2008. The Obama campaign argues that it doesn't have to.

___

North Carolina

About 2.3 million people have voted, and 48 percent of them were Democrats and 32 percent of them were Republicans. Four years ago at this time, Democrats had a slightly larger lead over Republicans, and Obama won the early vote by 11 percentage points.

Obama lost the Election Day Vote by 17 percentage points in 2008. But the early vote was much bigger than the Election Day vote, resulting in Obama's narrow win.

Obama's campaign cites the big lead for Democrats among early voters, while Romney's campaign argues that even a small shift toward the Republicans could flip the state to Romney.

___

Ohio

About 1.3 million people have voted, and 29 percent were Democrats and 23 percent were Republicans. Forty-seven percent were unaffiliated, more than enough voters to swing the state to either candidate.

Ohio may once again be pivotal in the race for the presidency. Unfortunately, Ohio's early voting data is limited. Party affiliation in Ohio is based on the last primary in which a voter participated, so new voters and those who don't vote in primaries are listed as unaffiliated.

In 2008, Obama won Ohio by 5 percentage points.

___

Associated Press Senior Elections Research Coordinator Cliff Maceda contributed to this report.

___

Also on HuffPost:

• 2008 -- Barack Obama

  Nov. 4, 2008: U.S. president-elect Barack Obama waves at his supporters during his election night victory rally at Grant Park in Chicago. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

• 2004 -- George W. Bush

  In this Nov. 3, 2004 file photo, President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush salute and wave during an election victory rally at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

• 2000 -- George W. Bush

  U.S. Republican presidential candidate and Texas Governor George W. Bush casts his vote in Austin, Texas on November 7, 2000. (PAUL RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

• 1996 -- Bill Clinton

  President Bill Clinton, wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea wave to supporters in front of the Old State House during an election night celebration in Little Rock, Ark. on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 1996. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)

• 1992 -- Bill Clinton

  Bill Clinton and Al Gore celebrate in Little Rock, Arkansas after winning in a landslide election on November 3, 1992. (AP Photo)

• 1988 -- George W. Bush

  President-elect George Bush and his family celebrate his victory on November 8,1988 at the Brown Convention Center in Houston. (WALT FRERCK/AFP/Getty Images)

• 1984 -- Ronald Reagan

  President Ronald Reagan gives a thumbs-up to supporters at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles as he celebrates his re-election, Nov. 6, 1984, with first lady Nancy Reagan at his side. (AP Photo/File)

• 1980 -- Ronald Reagan

  President-elect Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy wave to well-wishers on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 1980 at Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles after his election victory. (AP Photo)

• 1976 -- Jimmy Carter

  Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter embraces his wife Rosalynn after receiving the final news of his victory in the national general election on November 2, 1976. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

• 1972 -- Richard Nixon

  U.S. President Richard M. Nixon meets at Camp David, Maryland, on November 13, 1972 to discuss the Vietnam situation with Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger (L) and Maj. Gen. Alexander M. Haig Jr.(R), Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. (Photo by AFP PHOTO/NATIONAL ARCHIVE/Getty Images)

• 1968 -- Richard Nixon

  President-elect Richard M. Nixon and his wife, Pat, were a picture of joy at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, Nov. 6, 1968, as he thanked campaign workers. At left are David Eisenhower, Julie Nixon's fiance, Julie and her sister Tricia at center. (AP Photo)

• 1964 -- Lyndon Johnson

  President Lyndon Johnson proves he's a pretty good cowhand as he puts his horse, Lady B, through the paces of rounding up a Hereford yearling on his LBJ Ranch near Stonewall, Texas, on November 4, 1964. (AP Photo/Bill Hudson)

• 1960 -- John F. Kennedy

  Caroline Kennedy peeps over the shoulder of her father, Senator John F. Kennedy, as he gave her a piggy-back ride November 9, 1960 at the Kennedy residence in Hyannis Port, Mass. It was the first chance president-elect Kennedy had to relax with his daughter in weeks. (AP Photo)

• 1956 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower

  President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon salute cheering workers and Republicans at GOP election headquarters in Washington, November 7, 1956, after Adlai Stevenson conceded. (AP Photo)

• 1952 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower

  President-elect Dwight Eisenhower and first lady-elect Mamie Eisenhower wave to the cheering, singing crowd in the Grand Ballroom of the Hotel Commodore in New York City on Nov. 5, 1952 after Gov. Adlai Stevenson conceded defeat. (AP Photo/Matty Zimmerman)

• 1948 -- Harry S. Truman

  U.S. President Harry S. Truman holds up an Election Day edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune, which, based on early results, mistakenly announced "Dewey Defeats Truman" on November 4, 1948. The president told well-wishers at St. Louis' Union Station, "That is one for the books!" (AP Photo/Byron Rollins)

• 1944 -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

  President Franklin Roosevelt greets a young admirer as he sits outside his home in Hyde Park, N.Y., on election night, November 7, 1944. Behind him stands his daughter, Mrs. Anna Roosevelt Boettinger and the first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. (AP Photo)

• 1940 -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

  American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 - 1945) speaking to a crowd of 25,000 at Madison Square Garden in New York on Nov. 8, 1940, before his sweeping re-election for a third term. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

• 1936 -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

  The Republican Governor of Kansas and presidential candidate, Alfred Landon (1887 - 1987) greeting the American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 - 1945) (seated) prior to the presidential elections. Future United States President Harry S. Truman can been seen in the background. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

• 1932 -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York at his Hyde Park, N.Y. home November 6, 1932, seen at the conclusion of the arduous months of campaigning following his presidential nomination in Chicago. (AP Photo)

• 1928 -- Herbert Hoover

  President-elect Herbert Hoover is seated at a table with wife, Lou, and joined by other family members on Nov. 9, 1928. Standing from left: Allan Hoover; son; Margaret Hoover, with husband, Herbert Hoover, Jr.,at right. Peggy Ann Hoover, daughter of Herbert Hoover Jr., sits with her grandmother. (AP Photo)

• 1924 -- Calvin Coolidge

  U.S. President Calvin Coolidge and first lady Grace Coolidge are shown with their dog at the White House portico in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 5, 1924. (AP Photo)

• 1920 -- Warren Harding

  Senator Warren Harding, with wife Florence and his father George, shown on Aug. 27, 1920. (AP Photo)

• 1916 -- Woodrow Wilson

  Surrounded by crowds, President Woodrow Wilson throws out the first ball at a baseball game in Washington in this 1916 photo. (AP Photo)

• 1912 -- Woodrow Wilson

  Woodrow Wilson (1856 - 1924), the future American president, casts his vote while Governor of New Jersey, on Nov. 14, 2012. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

Mitt Romney: Obama Second Term May Lead To Another Recession

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney said Friday that the nation may be headed for another major economic turndown if President Barack Obama is elected to a second term.

"The same path means $20 trillion in debt, crippling unemployment, stagnant take-home pay, depressed home values, and a devastated military," he said during a stop in West Allis, Wis. "And unless we change course, we may be looking at another recession."

Job numbers out Friday showed 7.9 percent unemployment, a slight uptick since last month. Though the increase was minimal -- and just a tenth of a percent higher than when Obama took office -- Republicans have used it as evidence that the economy is getting worse, putting the blame on the president.

The GOP presidential nominee said Obama's economic policies are causing that level of unemployment. "He said that the unemployment rate would now be 5.2 percent. Today we learned that it is 7.9 percent -- it is 9 million jobs short of what he promised," Romney said. "Unemployment is higher today than when Barack Obama took office."

It was typical of Romney's stump speeches on the economy, and included promises to repeal Obamacare, increase drilling in the United States and expand trade to Latin America. He also promised to deal with the debt ceiling, a task he would have to complete but likely with far more difficulty than implied.

Romney said he expects the economy and job rates to remain the same until inauguration, but that he will quickly help improve them.

"When I am elected, the economy and American jobs will still be stagnant," he said. "I won't waste any time complaining about my predecessor. I won't spend my effort trying to pass partisan legislation unrelated to economic growth. From day one, I will go to work to help Americans get back to work."

If he wins, he said he can and will fix the economy.

"The only thing that stands between us and some of the best years we have known is lack of leadership," he said. "And that's why we have elections."

Also on HuffPost:

• Prosecution For Financial Fraud Hit A 20-Year Low During The Obama Administration

  Despite Obama's <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/06/why-can-t-obama-bring-wall-street-to-justice.html" target="_hplink">promises to crack down</a> on Wall Street, federal prosecutions of financial fraud hit a 20-year low last year, according to a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/15/financial-fraud-prosecution_n_1095933.html" target="_hplink">November study from a watchdog group</a>. The number of these types of prosecutions has been falling every year since 1999 -- in other words, there were more prosecutions during every year of George W. Bush's presidency than during every year of Obama's.

• Income Inequality Is Worse Under Obama Than Under Bush

  The rich took home a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/11/income-inequality-obama-bush_n_1419008.html" target="_hplink">greater share of America's income pie</a> from 2009 to 2010 than they did between 2002 and 2007, according to an April analysis from Emmanuel Saez, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. That means the gap between the rich and the poor was more pronounced under Obama's presidency than under George W. Bush's.

• Obama Wants To Lower The Corporate Tax Rate

  Some of America's most profitable companies used a variety of loopholes to pay <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/03/major-corporations-tax-subsidies_n_1073548.html" target="_hplink">less than zero in taxes</a> between 2008 and 2010, according to a November 2011 report by the Citizens for Tax Justice. But the Obama administration wants to make it even easier for corporations to have a smaller tax bill; Obama proposed a tax overhaul that would <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/barack-obama-proposing-to_n_1292939.html" target="_hplink">cut the corporate tax rate</a> from 35 percent to 28 percent.

• Health Care Reform Won't Make Health Care Cheaper For Most Americans

  Once the health care law takes effect, insurance companies will be footing the bill for millions of previously uninsured Americans and for those who were denied coverage for pre-existing conditions. And health insurance companies will <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/20/health-care-costs-rise_n_1440584.html" target="_hplink">likely pass on to consumers the cost</a> of insuring the new patients. After Massachusetts enacted a similar health care plan in 2006, premiums for an individual plan in the state <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/28/health-insurance-ruling-supreme-court-costs_n_1634555.html" target="_hplink">rose 18 percent</a> over three years.

• Obama's Housing Programs Have Largely Been A Failure

  In 2009, Obama announced the Home Affordable Mortgage Program, promising to help 3 to 4 million borrowers, but as of January -- more than three years into the program -- HAMP had <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/27/hamp-loan-modification-expands_n_1237169.html" target="_hplink">only reached 1 million borrowers</a>. In an aim to give the program legs, administration <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/27/hamp-loan-modification-expands_n_1237169.html" target="_hplink">officials changed the rules</a> in January to make more borrowers eligible. Still, the fixes were likely too little too late, experts said at the time.

• Homeowners Haven't Seen Much Out Of That Huge Mortgage Deal

  The Obama Administration touted the $25 billion mortgage deal it reached with 49 states and the big banks to settle allegations that banks mishandled mortgages. As part of the settlement, banks said they would <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/12/national-mortgage-settlement-_n_1589499.html" target="_hplink">offer at least $10 billion</a> in loan forgiveness to homeowners. But months after the deal was inked, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/29/debt-relief-mortgage-settlement_n_1839923.html" target="_hplink">banks have been slow</a> to hand out the money.

• Democrats Have Received Lots Of Campaign Cash From Bain Employees

  The Democratic National Convention will feature <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/03/bain-capital_n_1852302.html" target="_hplink">employees of firms run by Bain Capital</a> -- the private equity firm where Mitt Romney was formerly CEO -- likely in an aim to raise questions about Romney's tenure at the now-controversial company. But Democratic candidates and committees had <a href="http://articles.boston.com/2012-05-23/nation/31814221_1_obama-campaign-mitt-romney-romney-claims" target="_hplink">actually netted double the amount of campaign cash from Bain workers</a> as of May than their Republican counterparts since 2008, according to the <em>Boston Globe</em>. Now, Republicans are beating their Democratic colleagues in Bain cash, with <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/overview/topcontribs.php" target="_hplink">58 percent of donations from Bain</a> employees going to Republican candidates and parties, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. <strong>CORRECTION:</strong><em> An earlier version of this slide misstated that Democrats were receiving more donations from Bain employees than Republicans. That was the case in May. As of September Republicans are receiving more donations from Bain employees.</em>

• Goldman And Other Wall St. Firms Have Largely Escaped Punishment For Their Role In The Financial Crisis

  The announcement last month that the Justice Department wouldn't be prosecuting Goldman Sachs over allegations surrounding the financial crisis was <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/15/matt-taibbi-eric-holder_n_1784167.html" target="_hplink">a reminder for many</a> that the Obama Administration has largely let banks off the hook for their role in the meltdown. And regulators and officials may be running out of time; <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/08/09/goldman-says-sec-has-ended-mortgage-investigation/?ref=business" target="_hplink">the statute of limitations</a> for crimes related to the financial crisis is fast approaching, according to <em>The New York Times</em>.

• The Revolving Door Is Alive And Well In Obama Administration

  Many current and former members of the Obama Administration have ties to Wall Street. The <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/30/wall-street-washington_n_1842517.html" target="_hplink">list includes</a> the president's current and former chiefs of staff -- Jacob Lew and Bill Daley, respectively -- as well as his former budget director, Peter Orszag, and others.

• Too Big To Fail Banks Have Grown Under Obama

  At the end of 2011, five big banks, including Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, held <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-16/obama-bid-to-end-too-big-to-fail-undercut-as-banks-grow.html" target="_hplink">56 percent of the U.S. economy</a>, according to Bloomberg, compared to 43 percent five years earlier. That's right, the too-big-to-fail banks have actually gotten bigger.

• The U.S. Has Gained A Lot Of Low-Wage Jobs During The Recovery

  Welcome to the U.S. of Low-Wage America. Most of the jobs lost during the recession paid middle wages, while most of those <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/31/low-wage-jobs_n_1846733.html" target="_hplink">gained during the recovery were low-wage jobs</a>, according to a recent study from the National Employment Law Project.

• Incomes Declined More During The Recovery Than The Recession

  Median <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/us/recession-officially-over-us-incomes-kept-falling.html" target="_hplink">household income fell 6.7 percent</a> between June 2009, when the recession technically ended, and June 2011, according to a Census Bureau study cited by <em>The New York Times</em>. That's more than the 3.2 percent incomes fell during the recession, between 2007 and 2009.

• Payroll Tax Cut May Expire On Obama's Watch

  Last December, congressional Democrats managed to save the payroll tax cut for one more year, giving 122 million workers a few extra bucks each paycheck, but now that <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444130304577561410867407728.html" target="_hplink">boost may quietly disappear</a>, according to the <em>Wall Street Journal</em>. That's because the White House won't be pushing for another payroll tax cut extension this year.

• Many Top Obama Donors Are Employees Of Major Corporations

  Of the top 10 companies with employees donating money to Obama's campaign, three are big banks: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, according to <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cid=N00009638" target="_hplink">the Center for Responsive Politics</a>. Some of Obama's other major contributors include employees from big companies such as Microsoft and Google.

Robert Kuttner: Fix the Debt or Save the Coasts?

One of the casualties of Hurricane Sandy is the premise that America's biggest economic problem is deficit reduction. That's because the United States just became a much larger version of the Netherlands.

As events like Sandy become more common, and the ocean levels rise even in the absence of hurricanes, the communities of the Eastern and Gulf seaboard will increasingly be at risk of regularly being underwater -- unless we build a massive system of seawalls, dikes, levees, storm-surge barriers, and pumping facilities, as the Dutch have done for centuries.

America's seaboard cities will need to spend serious money not just on seawalls, but on public improvements to prevent flooding of subways and electric power stations and the swamping of water and sewer systems.

The new normal is here, the legacy of our denial of the reality of climate change. The federal government needs to do a comprehensive assessment of the public investment necessary to protect our coasts, which will run into the trillions of dollars.

All of this public outlay will have the handy side effect of stimulating a real economic recovery, instead of the half-recovery that will limp along for years absent drastic policy changes.

The damage of 9/11 was small compared to the damage of Sandy -- and 9/11 prompted increases in military spending north of two trillion dollars. The cynical corporate CEOs who are spending tens of millions to demand that we "fix the debt" should get serious and back a campaign to Fix the Coasts.

Read the full article at The American Prospect online here.

WATCH: Romney vs. Sandy

With the damage from Hurricane Sandy still being assessed and states struggling to restore basic services to millions of residents, a new ad from climate advocacy group Forecast the Facts urges Americans to "Tell Mitt Romney: Climate change isn't a joke."

The ad juxtaposes images of Sandy's destruction with a line from Governor Romney's acceptance speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention. In the speech, Romney took a jab at Obama's 2008 Democratic nomination acceptance speech, and the president's declared support for climate change action. Following his speech, Romney doubled down on his remarks, telling NBC's David Gregory, "I'm not in this race to slow the rise of the oceans or to heal the planet," during an interview on "Meet the Press."

Former President Bill Clinton has also criticized Romney's comments in the wake of Sandy, Politico reported. At a campaign rally in Minnesota on Tuesday, Clinton said, "He ridiculed the president -- ridiculed the president for his efforts to fight global warming in economically beneficial ways. He said 'Oh, you're going to turn back the seas.' In my part of America, we would like it if someone could've done that yesterday."

On Thursday, a man shouted "climate change caused Sandy" at a Romney campaign rally in Virginia before he was booed at and escorted away from the event.

While some have been hesitant to directly attribute the hurricane to climate change, scientists have warned that global warming as a result of human activity has loaded the "climate dice" in favor of more extreme weather. Rising sea levels from increased average global temperatures will also exacerbate already destructive storms in coming years.

Gary Yohe, a professor of economics and environmental studies at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and a co-chair of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's National Climate Assessment, told HuffPost's Tom Zeller Jr., "What we have been experiencing recently is only the harbinger of a future that will be punctuated by more severe weather extremes and increasing damage, all driven by past and future emissions of heat-trapping gases."

Romney's apparent disdain for climate action comes after comments he made to a group at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in October 2011. The Republican presidential nominee said, "My view is that we don't know what's causing climate change on this planet. And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce CO2 emissions is not the right course for us."

During his tenure as governor of Massachusetts, Romney introduced a Climate Protection Plan for his state. Romney wrote that the plan puts an "emphasis on actions, not discourse," and includes many "policies [that] will not be easy to implement." In 2003, he stood in front of a coal-fired power plant in Salem, Massachusetts and declared, "I will not create jobs or hold jobs that kill people. And that plant kills people."

Watch the video from Forecast the Facts and ClimateSilence.org above.

Also on HuffPost:

• <a href="http://forecastthefacts.org/">Forecastthefacts.org</a>

• <a href="http://forecastthefacts.org/">Forecastthefacts.org</a>

• <a href="http://forecastthefacts.org/">Forecastthefacts.org</a>

• <a href="http://forecastthefacts.org/">Forecastthefacts.org</a>

• <a href="http://forecastthefacts.org/">Forecastthefacts.org</a>

• <a href="http://forecastthefacts.org/">Forecastthefacts.org</a>

• <a href="http://forecastthefacts.org/">Forecastthefacts.org</a>

• <a href="http://forecastthefacts.org/">Forecastthefacts.org</a>

• <a href="http://forecastthefacts.org/">Forecastthefacts.org</a>

FEMA Administrator Responds To Michael Brown's Criticism

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate dismissed criticisms of President Barack Obama's response to Hurricane Sandy lobbed by Michael Brown, who oversaw the disastrous Bush administration response to Hurricane Katrina.

"Better to be fast than to be late," Fugate said in an interview on NPR Tuesday morning.

Brown, whom President George W. Bush infamously praised for doing a "heckuva job" in the aftermath of Katrina in 2005, told a Denver paper that Obama had acted too quickly in mobilizing relief for Sandy.

"Here's my concern," Brown told Denver's Westword on Monday, suggesting that the prompt official response was actually making people complacent. "It's premature [when] the brunt of the storm won't happen until later this afternoon."

Fugate also addressed the role of FEMA, which has been a hot topic since Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said he wanted to abolish the agency so that states would have direct responsibility for disaster response.

His campaign later clarified that he would not eliminate FEMA.

"Governor Romney believes that states should be in charge of emergency management in responding to storms and other natural disasters in their jurisdictions,' said campaign spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg. 'As the first responders, states are in the best position to aid affected individuals and communities and to direct resources and assistance to where they are needed most. This includes help from the federal government and FEMA.'

But as Fugate explained on Tuesday, this is exactly how FEMA already works.

"We're a federal government; we're not a national government," he said "Disasters are local. Through state constitutions, the governors are the primary incident commanders for the entire state response in support of that. And the role of the federal government is to support the states when the disaster exceeds their capabilities. And when it's this bad, we work as one team. But we are in support of the governors, as they are in support of the local officials. It's a federal system of government."

When host Steve Inskeep asked whether that meant state governors are in charge of disaster response, Fugate replied, "The president's direction is, when he declares these disasters, they are to make sure that all of the federal resources are brought to bear at the request of the governors."

Listen: