Bahamas and caribbean and at least 43 people have died as a result of this storm so far. Most of the deaths occurred in haiti where officials fear even more fatalitiefatalities. Nbc meteorologist dylan dryer is here with a look at the forecast track. Good morning to you, dylan. Good morning, alex. We are talking about this storm. It has weakened. But that doesnt change anything. This is still going to be a major storm. Especially for the midatlantic region. It is downgraded to a Tropical Storm right now and notice its movement. Its moving north northeast at about 10 miles per hour. It is going to take a turn to the northwest on monday. Were talking about this storm staying so far out to sea and it is going to have such a big impact on the east coast. For now it is a very large storm. You can see the heaviest of the rain is still out over the water. We are starting to see some of the outer rain bands producing lighter rain along the beaches of North Carolina and South Carolina. And it is going to take this path, following parallel to the eastern seaboard. But look at this setup. We have a stalled front to our west, and we have a huge area of High Pressure to the northeast. Thats actually going to cause this storm to go in between the two, and monday night into tuesday, thats when conditions are going to deteriorate. We could end up with more than 10 inches of rain in the delmarva peninsula and of course the rough surf will be an issue, as well. Alex . Okay, dylan. Thank you for that. In just a few minutes, Weather Channel meteorologist julie martin will bring us a live report from the North Carolina coast where theyre certainly gearing up for the storm there. Also al roker will be joining us at 7 30 a. M. From delaware. Front page politics now. New this morning, president obama in his weekly address emphasizing the progress made four years after the wall street crisis. Businesses have added more than 5 million new jobs, the Unemployment Rate has fallen to the lowest level since i took office. Home values are rising again. And our Assembly Lines are humming once more. Meantime, president obama says he wants to work with Congressional Republicans to avoid the socalled fiscal cliff that would trigger tax hikes and spending cuts. Two short months from now. So, also new this morning, we have president obama picking up another endorsement, though not unexpected. This one coming from the chicago tribune. Mitt romney and paul ryan made a joint appearance last night in the battleground state of ohio. Not just picking a president for four years, were picking what kind of country were going to be. What kind of people were going to be. What kind of country were going to give to our kids. We want real change. We want big change. And paul ryan and i are going to give it to the people of america with your help. On the campaign trail today, mitt romney is holding three events in florida, with senator marco rubio, paul ryans bus tour is crisscrossing ohio. President obama visits New Hampshire this afternoon. And Vice President biden will attend a rally in lynchburg, virginia. Lets get right to it. Nbcs Mike Viqueira is joining us from the white house. Good saturday morning to you. Hi, alex. First before we get to this president s trip north. Is Tropical Storm sandy affecting any of the white house plans . It certainly is. Youve heard this phrase, were familiar with it, an abundance of caution. Thats what youre seeing from some of the campaigns today. Vice President Biden was set to appear in Virginia Beach right along the coastline with his wife dr. Jill biden and son beau biden. That event has been canceled. Meanwhile michelle obama, the first lady, was due in New Hampshire on tuesday. Out of again abundance of caution they have canceled, postponed that event. Mitt romney was due in Virginia Beach where joe biden was supposed to be today. They postponed that event. Theyve altered their schedules. Theyre going to be appearing elsewhere. You mention the fact that president obama, hes Going Forward with his trip to New Hampshire today. Hes also got a big trip set for monday appearing with bill clinton in youngstown, ohio. Orlando, florida. And then lastly, Northern Virginia right here in river city. Well see how that goes on monday what the weather looks like. Were expected to get the brunt of it as you just heard between monday and tuesday. Meanwhile the president , as you mentioned, has been giving interviews, talking about that fiscal cliff. The quote of the day yesterday you had it on the super, he promises to wash John Boehners car and walk Mitch Mcconnells dog. Turns out Mitch Mcconnell doesnt have a dog, in order to get something done to avoid that fiscal cliff everyone is predicting economic catastrophe. Meanwhile, an nbc affiliate out of denver talked about some of the themes that hes working on and hitting mitt romney with. I fought for middleclass families in colorado and all across the country. Thats the kind of president i think you want. And im looking forward to having the privilege of serving another four years. A lot of it is going to depend on colorado so i hope everybody takes advantage of early vote in colorado. You guys are always ahead of the curve when it comes to voting. Nine interviews yesterday, the president did. He was in washington, but he headed down to dnc. Radio interviews with our friend Michael Smerconish and others around the country. Mike viqueira, get your track shoes on. Joining me now, White House Correspondent for the hill amie parnes, and steve selma. Good morning. Hi, good morning. Amie im going to begin with you because we have some interesting poll numbers from ohio to go over. First of all with this overall poll from cnn orc. It shows president obama still ahead by four points there in the Buckeye State. What are the president s Campaign Advisers saying about that . Is it too close for comfort or are they confident or sure. I think theyre cautiously optimistic. They have done polls, have been poll testing in ohio, and i think that they feel good about where they are. But you know, hes going to be spending the president s going to be spending a lot of time in the next eight days there. Hes going to be there with bill clinton on monday and i expect him to be back there relatively soon after that. I think hes going to basically be bunking there all week. Yeah, good point. What about you, steve . The ohio poll showing the president is winning over about six in ten early voters. But hes losing the election day voters, 61 to 44 for mitt romney. So the Romney Campaign says the president s peaking too soon. Do you have a read on the ground there, whats going on . Well, i mean, the ground game is fascinating there. The president has about three times as many field offices in ohio as mitt romney does. So theyre very confident they have enough people to knock on doors, make phone calls and get out the vote on election day. However, latebreaking votes tend not to vote for the incumbent. You know, we know that those voters know who the incumbent is. They havent gone to him, they havent voted early for him, so it could end up being a wash on election day and could be a late night. You got that right. How about the Obama Campaign calculation, amie, on this comment about boehner and mcconnell, dog walking and car washing. The gist of all this, whats the reaction . Well, its something you said before. Ive heard him talk about it on the campaign trail. Hes basically trying to send a message that once this all happens, he will be able to work with republicans, and hell be able to put this all behind us. Hes kind of sending a signal to that everything will be all forgotten. Dont think about me as a oneterm president anymore, lets all be in this big kumbayah moment. Maybe not so much. Steve, were seeing some National Polls as we look at the numbers. They favor mitt romney while the president leads in some nine swing states. Is it your sense that we could see the dreaded elector el popular vote split, and if so, what does that mean . Well, i think its very possible this time. I think one of the reasons is mitt romney could be getting really big margins in the south from texas across the south. Which would roll up his popular vote. While the president wins some big states by narrower margins, and thus mitt romney wins the popular vote, barack obama wins the electoral vote and the presidency, like we had in 2000, and it raises questions going into governing. So i think what you see is the next day, Mitch Mcconnell and john boehner the Republican Leaders in the congress, stand up and say well speak for the majority of the country and therefore continue to oppose the president s agenda. What about you, amie . Any words from inside the white house . Are they mulling this prospect of the possible electoral vote split and how it might affect governing . I dont think they care so much about the national poll. They havent really even strategists tell me they havent even really been focused on that. Theyre focused on the swing states. So i think that when the president does come back, if he does come back, then he will have to say, you know, this is all in the past, lets all try to work together. But i think theyre taking the swing state polling very seriously, and not so much on the other. Yeah. Steve, quickly, hurricane sandy. We know its canceled events in virginia and New Hampshire. How might it impact the race . Could this turn out to be an october surprise, do you think . Absolutely. And it starts in florida right now because theyre juggling Campaign Events already in florida. It will affect the get out the vote effort up the eastern seaboard because weve got several swing states, virginia, North Carolina, florida, New Hampshire right along the eastern seaboard. I think it will clear out by election day. But right into the final weekend, as we get farther north, New Hampshire, particularly, you could see it affecting those people who have to go out and knock on doors and get the vote out. All right, steve thumma, amie parnes, good to see you both. A live report on Tropical Storm sandy. Ear going to hear from the Weather Channels julie martin who is on the carolina coast. Then back to the election. The numbers coming in on early voting. Well take a look at how president obama and mitt romney are doing in some key states. Plus the newsroom edition of Office Politics. 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Meanwhile, mitt romneys campaign canceled tomorrows event in Virginia Beach. The Romney Campaign will soon decide the status of two other sunday appearances scheduled in virginia. And right now, Tropical Storm sandy is chugging out of the bahamas. It is heading right toward the u. S. Coast. People along the seaboard are preparing for the storms high winds and the severe storm surge. Sandy could strengthen back into a hurricane before making landfall, and Weather Channel meteorologist julie martin is live in nags head, North Carolina for us. Julie, good morning. You know, i hate saying that its been downgraded because i know this thing in all likelihood will come back up to full speed, right . And youre seeing the first effects right now there. Yeah, alex, it doesnt really matter that much. Because, right now, what were dealing with is a very large system, with a large wind field. So its if a Tropical Storm, if its a hurricane, it doesnt really matter. All that much at this point, because that wind field is so large, the effects are going to be so widespread, and millions of people, potentially, impacted by sandy as it makes its way up the coast. Just to give you some perspective, im in nags head, North Carolina. The center of this system is still about 500 miles to my south, well off the coast of florida, and were already seeing winds that are in the 20s, and a sea that is looking pretty angry, as well. Just take a look out there. Were right near this fishing pier. Part of this was washed away during hurricane isabel back in 2003. Theres a big beach renourishment project that they spent here, 30 million, theyre waiting to see if sandy washes those tax dollars away, as well. One of the things here in the carolinas will be the fact that we have onshore winds for a long period of time. Were going to be seeing rain later today. Deteriorating conditions overnight, as sandy makes its way up the coast toward you. And then, persistent onshore winds will be bringing coastal flooding, power outages, and the like. Just to give you some perspective, last year, during irene, large sections of roads were washed away here in North Carolina. Power was knocked out to about half a Million People, and seven people died. So, even and that was a lowend storm. I wouldnt really read in to much to the fact that this is a Tropical Storm or a lowend hurricane. Either way the effects are going to be devastating and now is the time when people really do need to prepare, alex. Im glad youre putting that reminder out there. Its absolutely true. Just because it says Tropical Storm right now, dont let your guard down. Julie martin, thanks for watching things for us from North Carolina. Were going to check back in with dylan dreyer at the bottom of the hour for the very latest on the path of the storm. Al roker will also be coming our way from delaware. Back to politics now. Today republican president ial nominee mitt romney heads for florida to campaign with senator marco rubio. Governor romney and Vice President ial candidate paul ryan had a big rally in ohio, and today congressman ryan is on a bus tour across the state. Nbcs ron mott is traveling in ohio with mr. Ryan so with a good morning to you, ron. Lets talk about all the stops on this bus tour today in ohio. How many do you have scheduled . Hey there, alex. Good saturday morning to you. I should have taken the pillow from the hotel to sit on because were on a ninestop bus tour over 400 miles today and tomorrow with congressman paul ryan. Theyre trying to close the deal here in ohio. We expect to see president obama and governor romney hit these battle grounds hard over the next ten days. Ohio is perhaps the most important of them, especially for governor romney. Because no republican candidate has won the white house, alex, without winning this state. Last night as you mentioned, he and paul ryan held a huge rally in north canton last night, about 8,000 people according to the campaign braved some pretty brisk temperatures. The governor is asking for their help in this state because the latest cnn poll just out a few days ago shows that the president is up four points. 5046. Now that lead is about half of what it was a few weeks ago. So the governor has chipped away at that lead but still has a ways to go. They want to get their graund game out, get people out to early vote and then get people out to the po