The White House brushed off questions today about whether President Obama would be able to “adjust” Election Day if Hurricane Sandy leaves significant, long-standing power outages.
Some utilities have warned that tonight’s punishing storm could leave areas in the dark for 10 days, which would eclipse Nov. 6.
“I think that is not something I’m able to address. The fact is the storm is just taking effect now and having an impact now and making landfall I believe tonight,” press secretary Jay Carney said when asked about “any contingency planning to alter the Election Day schedule.”
“We have to focus on not the campaign and not the election, but on making sure that all federal resources are both prepositioned and in place to help states and localities respond to the storm, to help Americans who are affected by the storm. That’s our focus right now,” Carney continued.
“Would the president have the power to adjust Election Day?” a reporter asked.
“I don’t know the answer to that question. I think you’re getting way ahead of yourself here,” Carney said.
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