US president visits New Jersey to take an aerial tour of areas damaged by superstorm Sandy Reuters

It is the image that could end up being seen as the defining moment of the the 2012 White House race. Television cameras showed Barack Obama, aboard the presidential helicopter Marine One, flying over the Jersey shore, seeing at first hand the devastation left by superstorm Sandy.

Over a thousand miles away, his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, was back on the campaign trail in Florida, trying to balance his desire to make up for time lost while trying to avoid accusations of a premature return.

The television networks picked up on the contrast, splitting their screens to show one in presidential mode, seemingly above politics, and the other back on the stump, making partisan points in a time of crisis.

The news channels stayed with Obama almost throughout the day as he witnessed the destruction and talked with officials and victims, offering sympathy and promising help.

On his flight over New Jersey, Obama saw a string of towns along the coast, the worst hit of which is Seaside Heights. From the air, he could see houses flattened, roads covered in sand or water, a carnival and large pier that looked as if large bites had been taken out of them, and the boardwalk gone except for lonely posts here and there, according to a White House pooled report.

Barack Obama and Chris Christie. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP

It is not just the emotion that is helping Obama. He is being given a boost by an unexpected source, the popular governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, who joined him in Atlantic City for the helicopter tour. Christie is not only a Republican but one of Romney's highest-profile backers.

Republicans are still trying to work out how to respond to Christie lavishly praising Obama, less than a week before the election.

Christie, resisting calls from some Republicans to get in a dig at Obama during the visit, went out his way instead to thank him again.

Obama and Christie stood together at a press conference amid the debris in Brigantine, devastated tourist resort, at the end of his New Jersey tour. Christie praised Obama for his speedy response to the crisis and Obama returned the favour, describing the governor as having put his heart and soul into helping the state bounce back.

Obama identified New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and West Virginia as the areas worst hit. Although Obama tried to avoid saying anything political, he nonetheless made the case for federal intervention, in particular the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has been overseeing the rescue and recovery operation. Romney last year proposed cutting back Fema.

Referring to Fema, Obama said that "because of some good preparation the loss of life was kept lower than it could have been". To emphasise the point, he suggested that the military and other federal assets could be used to help restore transport.

"The federal government will be working as closely as possible with state and local officials and we will not quit until this is done," Obama said.

A Washington Post/ABC poll published on Wednesday night found that eight out of ten likely voters awarded Obama high marks for his handling of the crisis. Even two thirds of those who said they support Romney gave the president credit.

With the storm still raw, few politicians or commentators are prepared yet to discuss publicly the impact of Sandy on the White House race.

But in private, some, even Republicans, will admit that Obama is the fortunate beneficiary of this act of nature.

Roger Simon, a columnist on Politico, is one of the few to go public, writing that: "Hurricane Sandy has given Barack Obama a lift beneath his wings." He said that the disaster and his "shrewd calculation" to stop campaigning in order to supervise the relief effort has provide him with the one thing he had needed for weeks: the opportunity to look presidential.

This week had supposed to be Romney's big push, building on the momentum that started with his surprise debate victory over Obama in Denver on October 3. Instead, he has been largely sidelined by Sandy.

Having seen his campaign schedule wrecked on Sunday and Monday, and having been forced to suspend it on Tuesday, even Romney's return failed to excite the media. He was only a few sentences into a speech in Florida when one of the television networks subjected him to the indignity of cutting him off mid-sentence.

Obama's team knows that Obama is benefiting from the attention but are

careful to avoid acknowledging it.

The White House spokesman, Jay Carney, was asked by a reporter on a flight to New Jersey if Obama was sending a political message by visiting the state. Carney vigorously denied it.

"This is a time to focus on what was a devastating storm and the terrible aftermath of that storm.," Carney said. "New Jersey was by many measures the hardest-hit state. I believe that's correct. It is entirely appropriate for the president to visit New Jersey and receive updates on the efforts there to recover and to view first-hand the damage inflicted by Sandy. This is not a time for politics."

The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, had not invited Obama to the city, but Carney insisted that was because the two had agreed that a visit to lower Manhattan would have tied up resources needed for helping to restore transport links and power.

Before leaving for New Jersey, Obama phoned doctors and nurses in New York to thank them for their bravery during the storm and helping to evacuate 200 patients.

Against that backdrop, it was an awkward balancing act for Romney on his return to the campaign trail. He had to avoid being too aggressively partisan in time of crisis. But he could not completely hold back, saying that unlike Obama, he does not "just talk about change — I actually have a plan to execute change and make it happen."

Screens on either side of Romney urged donations to the Red Cross. He also asked people if they had a spare dollar, to send it in.

"We love all of our fellow citizens, we come together in times like this and we want to make sure they have a speedy recovery," Romney said. But he could not resist making a political point too. "People coming together is also what I believe will happen on November 7," he said, suggesting that the public would rally round behind him after he wins the November 6 election.

One fact that the Romney campaign can hang on to is that the storm has so far not had a major impact on the swing states. Both New York and New Jersey are solidly Democratic, at least in White House races, and while there is sympathy for the victims, New York in particular is viewed in the midwest as Gomorrah.

It is the second time in months that weather has disrupted Romney's campaign. A hurricane forced him to abandon the opening day of the Republican convention in Tampa, meant to introduce him to the American people and showcase his policies. The convention never quite recovered from the disruption.

In spite of the lost days, his campaign team expressed confidence that Romney will win on Tuesday, pointing to polls showing him with leads in key states.

Obama's chief campaign adviser, David Axelrod, in a phone-conference with reporters, described the Republicans as delusional and suggested the polls they were quoting were unreliable.

He said he was hesitant to talk about the election in terms of the impact of the storm given that 50 people had died and millions of dollars worth of damage. Having said that, he admitted: "The only impact I would suggest is that it tended to freeze the race because people are focused on the storm."

Obama will return to the campaign trail Thursday, making up for lost time with a race across three states: Wisconsin, Nevada and Colorado.

Polls show the race remains tight. The Obama campaign claims it is tied or ahead in all eight swing states and is building a strong firewall, having a large advantage among those voting early.

The Republicans say that their supporters traditionally turn out in larger numbers on election day and this will eliminate the Democratic early voting advantage.