Tagged: hurricane sandy

"Here in the rockaways, people are voting in the dark. There are no lights, there is no heat."

That's how NPR's Robert Smith described the situation in the Rockaways, which is in one of the boroughs hardest hit by Superstorm Sandy in New York.

"There was supposed to be a generator running to run this entire polling place but when poll workers got there in the morning, they discovered it had no fuel," Robert told our Newscast unit.

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I'm Steve Inskeep.

The triumph in some parts of the country this morning is that people are able to vote at all. Just over a week after Hurricane Sandy slammed ashore, people are voting today in New Jersey.

And in New York City, NPR's Robert Smith is in the Borough of Queens, part of New York City. He's on the line. Robert, what have you seen today?

Over the pre-election weekend, we began hearing people, mostly Republicans, say that if Mitt Romney does not win the presidency this week it will be because of Superstorm Sandy.

That could be savvy analysis, or it could be the first signs of a search for an excuse. Either way, it's premature. For the moment, the Romney campaign should be looking for a way to turn the storm to its benefit.