Nightly News   |  October 31, 2012

Romney focuses on Sandy’s victims

As the storm cleanup begins, the Republican presidential candidate is facing questions about his position on the federal government’s role in disaster relief. NBC’s Peter Alexander reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>> we're back, and as we mentioned we have got just six days to go until election day . and this is dicey for people in the meanwhile of a campaign also dealing with a crisis. while the president was here in new jersey today, governor romney had to get back out on the trail. he was campaigning in the critical battleground state , especially critical for him, of florida. peter alexander is with the romney campaign in jacksonville tonight. and peter, what is it like on the trail with this pre occupation going on?

>> reporter: well brian, here tonight in the state of flood, it is all too familiar with the devastation. mitt romney tempered his crimin criticism of president obama , and in fact encouraged his supporters to give what they could. this of course, came a day after selecting supplies at a storm relief event, his campaign hosted in ohio. still, as the cleanup gets closer to where you are in the northeast, governor romney is questioning the federal government 's role in disaster relief , last year during a republican primary debate, he argued the state, even the private sector should take the lead in terms of delivering aid. today, romney put out a written statement reaffirming the belief, also vowing that fema would have the resources it needs. one more note, there are polls out and both campaigns say they are in the lead right now. the new polls, the president is clinging to a tight lead in the crucial battlegrounds of ohio, florida, and virginia.

>> all right, peter alexander in