ANALYSIS: Sandy Stalls Presidential Politics

Oct. 30, 2012 --

Exactly one week from today Americans across the country will go to the polls to pick the next president of the United States.

But this morning people in many parts of the East Coast are waking up to the destruction left in the wake of what one ABC News reporter described as a "liquid fist" that pounded the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

According to the Associated Press, the storm took the lives of "at least 17 people in seven states" and cut off power to nearly 7.5 million residents.

Both presidential candidates curtailed their campaign schedules yesterday and while President Obama remains in Washington, DC to monitor the storm situation from the White House today, his opponent, Mitt Romney, attends a storm relief event in Ohio.

Campaign surrogates, including Bill Clinton and Ann Romney, will continue to hit the trail. And as ABC's Jonathan Karl points out, the campaign has not entirely come to a halt. Both sides traded attacks over dueling television ads on the auto bailout yesterday and those ads continue to run on cable and broadcast in the states.

Meanwhile, in response to recent polls and signals from the campaigns, ABC News moved two states - Minnesota and Pennsylvania - from "Solid Democratic" to "Lean Democratic" (more on that below).

But whatever might happen next Tuesday, it's clear that today, as the effects of the storm continue to be felt further north and as recovery and clean-up efforts begin, presidential politics will not be the focus.

Tomorrow, of course, is another day.

Keep an eye on ABC News.com for our next ABC News-Washington Post tracking poll at 5p.m. today: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/polls/