THE RACE THIS MORNING – AT 8:21 A.M. ET:  We have six days to go.  The race for the White House was unexpectedly disrupted by Hurricane Sandy, although I expect focus will be back on politics in the next day or two.  We're told that the candidates will be back on the campaign trail tomorrow.

The race is too close to call, although I'm guardedly optimistic.  Neither candidate has sewn up enough electoral votes to win, although RealClearPolitics, eliminating "toss-ups" and assigning those states to the direction in which they're leaning, has Obama winning the election, with 294 electoral votes to Romney's 244. 

Some polls hint that Romney has peaked, and that there's some slippage, especially in Virginia and Florida, but some of those polls have traditionally tended Democratic.  We wait for Rasmussen, who still has Romney leading in Virginia, but is hedging about Florida.

The administration can still pull an October surprise.  So can the mainstream media.  In 2000 the mainstreamers revealed George W. Bush's youthful DWI arrest just a few days before the election. 

However, no one speaks these days of "enthusiasm" for Obama.  There isn't much.  The zeal is on the other side.  What Obama has is a vast army of traditional supporters, many of them cultural.  How many will actually come out on election day in this very cultural election?  And Obama has a media that has gone all out.  The New York Times has become utterly disgraceful, practically turning its newspaper into an Obama megaphone.

Some of the greatest buzz this morning involves media buys by Romney in traditionally Democratic strongholds like Pennsylvania and Michigan.  Some say it's because internal polling shows those states moving toward Romney.  Others say it's a head fake, forcing the Obamans to match the buys and spend valuable resources on states they've already won.  Still others claim that the buys are a sign of Romney becoming desperate because internal polling shows previously won states like Virginia and Florida slipping away.  We have no idea, but I'm guessing the first theory is the most likely, that these states are moving Romney's way.

We'll keep you informed.  This race is not over.  I agree with some of the more adult analysts I've seen in the last day, that it can go either way. 

October 31,  2012