KETTERING, Ohio (Reuters) – President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney on Tuesday briefly put aside their fierce battle for the White House, as they avoided politics to focus on relief efforts after mammoth storm Sandy left millions of Americans struggling to recover.

With a week left in a deadlocked election race, Obama canceled campaign trips planned for Tuesday and Wednesday to stay in Washington and supervise storm recovery, while Romney held a storm relief event in the swing state of Ohio but ducked most political talk.

KETTERING, Ohio (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney largely avoided politics on Tuesday as the monster storm Sandy cast an unpredictable pall over the race for the White House with just a week to go until Election Day.

With President Barack Obama off the campaign trail and at the White House monitoring relief efforts, Romney faced the challenge of appearing presidential without showing insensitivity to millions of Americans affected by the storm.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was about to go on stage in Ohio on Monday when he decided to abruptly shift the tone of his campaign given the potentially lethal impact of Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast.

With the storm bearing down, Romney canceled campaign events scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Wisconsin, Iowa and Florida. Running mate Paul Ryan and Romney’s wife, Ann, also stepped back from campaigning.

WASHINGTON/DAVENPORT, Iowa, Oct 29 (Reuters) – President
Barack Obama suspended campaigning and returned to Washington on
Monday to oversee the response to Hurricane Sandy, while his
Republican rival Mitt Romney curtailed political events to show
respect for the storm’s potential victims.

As the storm cuts into the final week of campaigning in an
especially close race for the White House, both men are trying
to avoid coming across as overtly political while millions of
people are imperiled by Sandy’s fierce winds and driving rain.

BOCA RATON, Florida (Reuters) – President Barack Obama repeatedly attacked Republican challenger Mitt Romney on foreign policy on Monday in their third and final debate in an effort to blunt his opponent’s surge in the polls with two weeks left until Election Day.

The high-stakes debate strayed frequently into domestic policy, with Romney seeking to bolster his argument that Obama had bungled the U.S. economic recovery with high unemployment and rising debt.

, Oct 22 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama
and Republican challenger Mitt Romney battled over foreign
policy on Monday in their third and final debate as they sought
to break a deadlock in opinion polls heading into the final two
weeks of campaigning.

The debate was the last major opportunity for either
candidate to appeal directly to millions of voters – especially
the roughly 20 percent who have yet to make up their minds or
who could still switch their support at the Nov. 6 election.

BOCA RATON, Florida (Reuters) – President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney face off in front of the cameras for a final time on Monday as opinion polls show their battle for the White House has tightened to a dead heat.

With 15 days to go until the November 6 election, the two candidates turn to foreign policy for their third and last debate, which starts at 9 p.m. (0100 GMT on Tuesday).

, Oct 22 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama
and Republican challenger Mitt Romney face off in front of the
cameras for a final time on Monday in what could be their last,
best chance to win over the small sliver of voters who have yet
to make up their minds.

With 15 days to go until the Nov. 6 election, the two
candidates turn to foreign policy for their final debate at Lynn
University in Boca Raton, Florida. The 90-minute event starts at
9 p.m. (0100 GMT on Tuesday) and is moderated by Bob Schieffer
of CBS.

, Oct 22 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama
and Republican challenger Mitt Romney face off in front of the
cameras for a third and final time on Monday near the end of a
presidential campaign season marked by a high number of
memorable debates.

With 15 days to go until Americans vote on Nov. 6, the two
candidates turn to foreign policy for their last encounter at
Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. The 90-minute event
starts at 9 p.m. (0100 GMT on Tuesday) and is moderated by Bob
Schieffer of CBS.

DELRAY BEACH, Florida (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney were tied in a dead heat on Sunday with 16 days to go until the election, increasing the stakes for their third and final debate.

A NBC/Wall Street Journal poll had both Romney and Obama at 47 percent among likely voters, marking a comeback for the Republican since a series of missteps including the release of a secretly recorded video in which he suggested almost half of the electorate lives off government handouts.