October Surprise?

Well I'm back home, after a pre-election vacation. ( hey, back when we planned our vacay I thought we had this election thing wrapped up). Of course a lot has happened during the week that we've been gone. I did watch the  final debate, and yes I was very impressed by President Obama's performance, but I was mystified by Governor Romney's strategy. When did agreeing with  all of your opponent's points become a part of Debate 101? Maybe I missed something. And the polls are still closer that I ever expected them to be. Did his strategy work? Now that the debates are over, the conventions are done, and what else can be said in a speech....the October surprise. Not in the form of a scandal, or Karl Rove stealing the election (at least not yet)....but in the form of a rare late October hurricaine.
We saw the beginnings of this storm while we in Florida last week. It was on the news as a little tropical depression just off the coast of Jamaica, that might form into a hurricaine, but it would take travel in an eastward direction, and go out to sea. It was all background noise to me, as we prepared to meet Mickey, Donald, and all the other things you do when you're in Orlando. Then I realized, hey, they are talking about a hurricaine....and I AM in Orlando! Surprisingly though, we hardly felt anything. We got a little wind and rain in Orlando at the end of the week, but really no more than we would have felt in Maryland. Not to be denied, we did get a small example of hurricaine conditions when we attempted to go to Clearwater Beach on last Friday. Thinking that, oh, it's on the Gulf side of Florida, so it shouldn't be affected by the hurricaine, like the coastal beaches right.......wrong!   The wind conditions were so fierce that we only stayed on the beach for a few minutes. The sand is beautiful, but being pelted by it was no fun.

So we make it back to Maryland on Sunday evening, to be greeted by the prospect that the storm  we saw form in Florida, has now joined forces with a cold front here, and has become this "Frankenstorm." An unexpected October surprise for the Presidential election. A surprise that could work in our favor. The country seldom changes chief executives in the middle of a crisis, so if Mr. Obama is deemed presidential during this storm, it could work to his advantage. The advantage to Mr. Romney is if the bad weather keeps Obama supporters away from the polls here on the East Coast. Early voting, where the President has a clear advantage, is already being affected. If early voting is shut down for the rest of the week, we'll have a lot of catching up to do on election day.
Hopefully this storm will not be as bad as predicted....but stay tuned, and stay safe. We'll definitely see how it affects the election..... next week.

VOTE!