0 within the last hour, president obama arrived in new jersey where the storm not only deadly but where some of the worst damage occurred. the president touring the state with new jersey governor, republican governor chris christie. just six days out from the election. interesting for many reasons and mostly because chris christie is a top romney surrogate and highly critical of the president in the past but since the storm lavished praise on the president's handling of the storm's wrath. before heading to the jersey shore, the president's made an unscheduled stop at fema headquarters. this is the president meeting with several administration and cabinet persons there. we're told he addressed everyone around the table thanking them for the work and warning that the country's not out of the woods yet. joining us now nbc news political director chuck todd on the phone and ron allen live in point please sant beach, new there are two times as many people, customers, without power in new jersey now as after hurricane irene a year ago and gives you a sense of the depth of the problem here. 60% of the state does not have power. and again, it's going to take a while. yes, there is some frustration but i think people are understanding that this is a really severe calamity that hit this place and you can see along the jersey shore places like this, a beach front property, a restaurant obliterated and what president obama and governor christie are seeing as they fly up and down the shoreline. we saw marine one go by in a convoy with helicopters about ten minutes ago and making their rounds. but i don't think a lot of people expect a lot from the federal government in the short term. >> yeah. >> right now people are just trying to deal with their immediate needs, moving in with neighbors, staying with friends. we have heard reports that some utility companies are talking about perhaps turning off water services, for example, because out of the system. nothing is guaranteed. but at this point, as the clock ticks closer to the weekend, the tension increases. >> reporter: exactly, tamron. and the problems are different in different places. in northern jersey going to jersey city, newark, hoboken and across in manhattan where you are, yes, there's a lot of anxiety. there are really critical problems there. that are much more complicated arguably than what you find in this place like this as a much more sparsely populated area. yes, there's a density of population and people can't move and go to work and go to school. even down here, people wandering the beach today. they have nothing to do. they can't go to work. they're trying to clean up what they can of their properties but i think you're right that people want to hear specifics. although, states and government -- local officials warning it takes some time. it's very, very complicated. nobody really -- the forkers warned of this but i don't think people thought it would be this bad, as bad as it is that you would have power out in 60% of a state. >> absolutely. to this point, it is not as if people are blaming fema or blaming administrators. they want some answers which is a natural reaction, especially when you're going through what so many are in this region. thank you very much, ron. i appreciate you sticking around. with six days to election day, governor romney resumed a full campaign schedule today. he's in florida right now. about to kick off the second event of the day in south florida. congressman paul ryan is in wisconsin. vice president joe biden attending rallies in florida and bill clinton is in iowa for the obama campaign, of course. let's bring in the political panel. david goodfriend and rachel smelkin. thank you both for your time. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> i want to get to this poll showing the president still holding on to his lead in ohio, florida and virginia. we know that when you look at national polls, depending on which one, a different picture but it is about the battlegrounds and likely voters here. what do we make of the new polls? >> hurricane sandy introduced a massive unknown in to the final days of the race and that's the first thing. we are not yet seeing that reflikted in the polling. having said that, it looks for the president's team like they're still holding on in ohio. the margins closed there as in other battleground states but that's an all-important state for both campaigns to win this election, mitt romney is almost going to have to win ohio if not he's going to have to run the table everywhere else. this is a good piece of news for the president out of ohio today. virginia and florida just too close to call. well inside that margin of error. could go either way. but for all the talk you have heard of mitt romney's momentum since the first debate in denver, that fateful first debate, it looks like from this poll the momentum has either stopped or slowed. that, of course, is not the message that the campaign has been putting out over the past couple of days. >> you talk about sandy. there's a big picture of the day will be governor chris christie and president obama together surveying the damage. again, so many people have remarked it's a remarkable sight. i'm not quite sure if it is and seems like common sense. we know where governor christie is based and there are people in need. unlike michael bloomberg when's not planning to run for an office we know of in the immediate future. governor christie may have a big battle on the hands moving ahead. let's play what joe scarborough said this morning regarding ohio and if it's off the table. >> if you take ohio off the table for mitt romney, and it's really close, it's really, really close to being off the table for mitt romney and unless there's a massive reagan-like landslide the last week, then suddenly mitt romney's pathway to 270 gets very, very narrow. >> so david, that's joe's take on this. shawn spice we are the romney campaign on earlier saying they're expanding the map and looking at pennsylvania, minnesota, as well. even though the numbers at least in pennsylvania certainly are not there or minnesota. they claim that they are looking not just at ohio but expanding this map. do you see any sign of momentum or whatever the catchphrase of the day has been? >> no. i think it's a hail mary pass and your own chuck todd earlier in the day in d a brilliant illustration of why the romney campaign has to do this. because ohio really is falling off the table for them. if they rely only on an ohio win, they're probably going to lose. they're trying desperately to open up a new front but, you know, my colleague that spoke earlier mentioned the hurricane. and bringing the attention on romney and fema. he was asked yesterday multiple times what he would do with fema. did not answer. but just a short time ago jeb bush commented on local officials responding to disasters versus national or federal response. i'll play that but i want to play something else first. romney on the campaign trail today trying to transition, rachel, from holding off or holding fires to acknowledging the ongoing events of the day on the ground of new jersey. let me play it. >> we love all of our fellow citizens. we come together in times like this and we want to make sure that they have a speedy and quick recovery. now, people coming stoe ining t what's i believe going to happen on november 7th. >> he tried to turn the curve and bring it all together. i'm not going to ask you to score it but, okay, did it work? i'll just ask you that. did it work is this. >> this is a very tough day to be the challenger in a position where you can't do anything about it. right? so romney has to show sympathy and really nothing he can do in this situation. president obama gets all the advantages of incumbency and seeing the pictures coming in out there with chris christie. a top romney surrogate and a moment to look presidential. look like he's in charge. he's doing all of those things. the question is whether the mood will change when people have not had power for a few days, images of areas that are still suffering and the cleanup has not been as effective. what will that do in the final hours before election day? nobody knows how that plays out. >> no one knows but what we know, rachel, all of those factors can happen but what you have over the last few days, that shot. one of the chief surrogates for governor romney patting the president on the back, physically and then patting him verbally for a last few days. he's been doing that. by the way, there was some information reportedly one of mitt romney's advisers on the plane was asked whether that governor romney agrees with chris christie's praise of the president and the handling of sandy and refused to answer, rachel. >> right. that was a moment where maybe they could have answered differently. they chose to sort of turn reporters' back to chris christie's remarks instead of using that as an opportunity to say something more about the country or the president. i would point out that in addition to all of these questions raising about hurricane sandy, we have another robs report coming out on friday. that's going to throw another unknown in to the final days of this campaign. >> david, i want to play the sound from jeb bush with mitt romney seeming to bring the attention back to fema and the questions in many ways that have been unanswered by governor romney on what he would do about fema if elected. >> my experience in this emergency response business is that it's the local level and the state level that really matters. that if they do their job right, the federal government part worked out pretty good. >> so david, let me get your response. i mean, yesterday governor romney was at a noncampaign event and he ignored the question of fema. unsolicited jeb bush, still popular in florida, knows the impact that fema can have after a natural disaster, bringing it up in this way at a rally in florida. >> yeah, look. anybody whose last name is bush is not who i want talking about a response to a natural disaster. what jeb bush just did is recite how the laws work today. localities and states run the ground game but they have support of fema. i love the guy that is go we hate government, government's bad, government bad and then the first time there's a disaster, what do they start shouting? government, come help me. federal government, please, come to my state. help me. look. americans are not stupid. when we see the actions that speaks louder than any kind of words and the republican hatchet men can say all that want that government's bad but when it really matters and people's lives are at stake, who do you count on to be there? a strong, effective, efficient government. that's played out on television screens across the country right before election day. >> you had some republicans who said bringing up governor romney's comments regarding fema during the primary was politicizing it. but again, today on his own unsolicited and not a result of a question directed to him former governor of florida jeb bush brought this up. rachel, thank you. david, as well. >> thank you so much. >> we're told that the president and governor christie will be back in atlantic city at the international airport and then the motorcade to take them. so we're keeping an eye on that situation and images from staten island, as well. we continue to follow the breaking news out of new jersey. president obama expected to start his ground tour alongside governor chris christie. that's happening in this hour. we'll bring you the very latest and expecting to hear from the president, of course, as he is here to survey the damage. national guard troops have arrived this morning to help the people in hoboken, new jersey. they're delivering them ready to eat meals. the situation still dire as the president tours firsthand what's happening on the ground. we'll get a live report. plus, why the headline reads ohio's working class offer the key to obama's re-election. well, they're specifically talking about working white class middle class voters. you can tweet us. lendars. it's the last day you can switch your medicare part d plan. we're ready, and we can't wait to switch. what i wanted was simple: the most value for my dollar. so, now that it's time, we're making the move to a plan that really works for us. 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