WASHINGTON – Hurricane Sandy overran White House politicking Monday, with President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney calling off campaign rallies as the strengthening storm bore down on the East Coast.

With eight days to go before Election Day, Nov. 6, neither candidate could afford to totally shut down operations. The political barbs continued in campaign ads and between aides trying to show the upper hand in a race as tight as ever.

Obama, trying to show effective leadership in a time of impending crisis across some of the country's biggest population centers, met with federal officials monitoring the storm from a video hook-up and then addressed the country from the White House. He repeated that his administration is ready to help respond to and warned that the consequences could be deadly if people don't follow instructions. "The great thing about America is that when we go through tough times like this, we all pull together," Obama said in a six-minute appearance.