gloof are you ready for some voting? katie perry says she is. >> wisconsin! you ready? >> schieffer: while she was making some smooth moves for the president, kid rock had his republican hat on for romney. >> go, romney. go, ryan. we'll get this done, ohio. >> schieffer: the pop stars and candidates race through the battleground states on one long last lap. >> that's quite a virginia beach welcome. >> hello, nevada. >> new hampshire got me the republican nomination, and new hampshire is going to get me the white house. thanks, you guys. >> schieffer: if there's anything both sides can agree on, this is close and could come down to one state, but which one, florida, virginia, or-- >> i think you may have noticed everyone paying's a lot of attention to ohio. >> schieffer: and them there's the wild card.

what will the impact that the super storm that destroyed parts of new jersey and plunkedly the lower half the manhattan into darkness have the race? we've got the latest on hurricane sandy damage,en and this we'll turn to the best of the best political remembers, analysts and race watchers to give us their take on the presidential race. we'll start with peggy noonan of the "wall street journal." dee dee myers of "vanity fair." richard lowry of the "national review." harvard university's david gergen. and our own john dickerson. then we'll talk to stu rothenberg of the stu rothenbe rothenberg political reports. allen stanford of the university of virginia center for politics, democratic pollster anna greenberg, and republican analyst leslie sanchez of the impacto group. and our own cbs news elections director anthony salvanto. we're coming to the end of the

campaign 2012, and we've got it all on "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news in washington, "face the nation" with bob schieffer. >> schieffer: good morning, again. most of the country is looking forward to election day, or at the least, looking forward to the campaign being over. but in large parts of the northeast, it is still the aftermath of the storm that is in the forefront of many people's thoughts. at least 110 are dead, more than 2 million are still without power. close to 1 million in new york city alone. 80% of new york city subway service has been restored, but it may be days before gas shortages are rer stored and the national guard has been called in to keep order at gas stations. the storm has caused an estimated $20 billion in damages, plus an estimated $50

billion in economic losses to the region. the state of new jersey was hit hardest, and for more on that, we're going to ben tracy in tuckerton beach, good morning, ben. >> reporter: good morning, bob. this is what so many neighborhoods all along the new jersey shore look like. they're almost frozeep in time. there is really no recovery going on here yet because these areas have just been too dangerous to get into until now. this weekend was really the first time that so many people who live around here are coming back to see how damaged their houses are. many are finding they have no home at all. across new jersey, you're still talking about nearly a million people without power, and that's becoming a real issue, because temperature here's at night are falling into the low 30s, so it's very cold for the people who decided not to go to shelters or who don't have anywhere else to go, trying to ride this situation out. of course, as the days progress here, you will start to see more debris removal, but so many of these areas are simply too hard to get into. then you have the issue of gas rationing.

people are waiting in line for gas. they're trying to get fuel for their gen authors so it's a very tough situation here in new jersey. bob. >> schieffer: thank you very much. we'll turn to the other big story of the week, of course, this final week in the election. and here to give us their thoughts, their predictions, their homes, their dreams, peggy noonan is the columnist for the "wall street journal," speech writer for president reagan. richard lowry wrote this week's cover of "new york times magazine"" magazine and writes for "national review." john dickerson is our cbs news political director. on the other side, dee dee myers, press secretary for president clinton, contributor to "vanity fair," and david gergen, who is at harvard. pecky, let me just start with you. what do you think the impact of this storm is going to be? did it hurt romney? did it help the president? >> well the impact in the

northeast itself has just been very bad. a lot of people suffering up there. some people calling it their katrina in a very unhappy way, of course, in part because it's cold. it's a cold katrina. and people are without heat and electricity. seats very tough. how does it play politically? we'll know in retrospect, i think like everything else, in this race. it is not known at this point how it will play. you can argue that the president looked commanding and like a leader when he came up to new jersey. you could also argue that things are starting to look a little tough in some of the neighborhood neighborhoods in new york and jersey, and so that might work against him. it's hard to say, but one thing i think is probably clearly true and that is the fact of the storm took the subject matter of mitt romney's closing statements, the end of his campaign, his big arguments sort

of snuffed that out a little bit for a few days. inevitably, as we all talked about the storm. we weren't talking about the economy. we weren't doing all of that stuff. so in some way, that may have hurt him. and yet, at the same time, that all that was happening, in westchester, ohio, he was pulling out 30,000 people on a dark, cold night. so balance that out. . >> schieffer: but-- but what you're saying eye don't think anybody sitting at this table would think that the storm would cause new york to suddenly go republican. >> oh, my goodness, no. >> schieffer: or new jersey to be republican. >> no, no. >> schieffer: but i guess the question what we saw in that time period there, does it go out to the rest of the country and have an impact there? what do you, john? >> i think coming out of that, if you look at the question of momentum, which is hard to define, coming out of that debate in denver, mitt romney had republicans behind him who felt excited about him afresh. it wasn't just that he was the

vessel to beating barack obama. they liked him. i think that momentum stays intact. there was another force propel him after that debate, though, and that was undecided voters or soft ones are hadn't yet bought the sale on mitt romney came out of denver doing well with that. that started to dissipate long before sandy hit. so then sort of the president and mitt romney were fighting for that second force. what they needed was a last moment that one of the two of them could be in the front pages, looking like a person who was of the moment and mitt romney lost several days because of the storm to be the man of the moment, and the president, because he was president, was the man of the moment for those late-deciding voters who hadn't been paying attention to the race. they turn on their tvs. that's what they see. i think that to the extent that anybody benefits politically, that probably helps the president. >> bob, there's a reason why of the 10 incumbents who have sought office again since world war ii, seven have won. powers go with the presidenciy and the moment aalize act

presidential-- and i think he did. i think he handled it very well. that you get a bump out of this. i think you get awe hurricane bump out of this and it was part of a bigger tapestry for the week. he had a pretty good week. he had not only the way to handle the hurricane, but the wet chriss from governor christie. who could have imagined. and mayor bloomberg, colin powell's endorsement, which he had okay job numbers on friday. they weren't gpped they weren't bad. and he dodged a bullet. all that together i think gives him the cresting you look for in a campaign right towards the end as you know so well. >> schieffer: rich, do you think it helped or hurt the president? >> i think it helped him at the margins. it interrupted romney's argument. it forced the president for a couple days to act and look presidential, which i think suits him much better than being out there making jokes about big bird and rom nearbyia and rest of it-- although he has gone back to the sophomoric tone last couple of days, and the robust

embrace from chris christie, at the very time romney was trying to make the argument i'm the guy who can work across the aisle better than the president. i'm not sure how long lasting this will be for the rest of the country. for new jersey, and new york, obviously, this will be a big story for a long time. but the news cycle moves so fast. for the rest of the country, tuesday morning it may feel like 100 years ago gee, i agree it was good for the president, and he's if cool in the crisis. that's one of the things people liked about him in this presidency. he seems cool under fire. it reminded them, that's another thing they like about him. his numbers in the northeast spiked quite bit. people there, obviously, felt good about it. those are not swing states so we're not going-- >> new hampshire? >> possibly they didn't get hit as hard. but new york, new jersey, connecticut. but it could drive vote polls up there for him, which could be helpful just not losing the popular vote. and it was a good week. add to that an endorsement by

the "economist" which was unexpected. i think people who are in the middle who maybe voted for the president four year ago and looking for reasons to vote for and against him. you had bloomberg, colin powell, "the economist," governor christie. so it was a reminder that this guy is somebody that they feel good about. >> schieffer: let me just-- i want to play a little video that was sent in to us that i think we-- we have a young woman here who speaks for many americans, maybe even for me. here's what she had to say. >> i'm tired of bronco bamas and mitt romney. >> that's why you're crying? oh! it will be over soon, abbey. okay? the election will be over soon, okay. >> 'k ( laughter ). >> obviously doesn't have a future in political journalism. ( laughter ) >> schieffer: this campaign has gone on. why is it? i mean, is it because it was so

negative at the beginning? is that why we're all kind of saying, well-- i mean, i haven't run into anybody who says, "i'm really going to miss these ads." maybe there is somebody out there. >> it has been 18 months. running for president takes 18 months now. it's constant political stuff on tv, in the neighborhood, part of the national conversation. i have never, up until the past few weeks, heard so many people say, "why can't we do it like england?" americans don't normally set around saying-- >> one of the socialist countries over there? ( laughter ). >> they announce an election. six weeks later they vote. thank you very much. one of the odd things about this campaign is that, when looked at from a certain perspective, it looks like it's actually an economic fact more than anything else, and it the local tv station affiliate recovery act of 2012.

they are making so much money because the politicians are buying so many ads. but it's wearing on everybody. i think everybody feels like, "let's vote. wean where we are." >> schieffer: does anybody at the table right here think this is not too close to call right now? does anybody see this breaking substantially one way or another? dee dee. >> i think it's trending very slightly towards president obama. i think that the recent national polls have shown him a little bit-- romney, made up some ground and was leading in most of the national polls for a few days. now either the president is up by one or they're even. i think we see a little bit of movement toward him and he's holding steady in the swing states, particularly ohio. he continues to over-perform in ohio, and nothing has been able to shake voter offs of him. i think if you're-- and i think one of the other indicators is who do people think is going to win? which turns out to be a pretty good predictor of votes whether in-trade or just voteres, they think president obama is going to win. >> that's true, but i have to

tell you, i feel like romney is coming up. i feel like very quietly so many things in his campaign have come together. he has sort of come into his own. he's having these big rallies. i keep watching them on tv. they're very strong. >> those are signs, too. >> yhis case has become-- the case he makes is cogent. it's congratulate. his commercials have gotten good, even as we're all tired of commercials. they've gotten very good. there's stuff going on there. >> picking up from where peggy is, i don't think it's too close to call. i think it's impossible to call. if you look at the polls from afar, clearly, the president has the advantage. he's ahead in most of the battleground states. if he wins the state he's ahead in he's going to easily get the electoral college-- >> schieffer: but they're in the margin of error. >> they're in the margin of error. if you go on the ground, i was in ohio, you hear a different story than what you hear on the polls, you hear a lot of enthusiasm on the part of republicans. they think they can take this.

you can't look at this from 40,000 feet only. >> yes >> you've actually got to be there and get the finger tip deal. >> there's a passion gap among the republicans and democrats. i feel a lot of obama supporters i talk to are somewhat resigned. they mean it but they're resigned. the romney people in the past six weeks have gone from i am anti-obama-- therefore, i'm for romney-- to i like romney. they have become very pro-romney. >> that's what the 51st debate idid. you look at the national expose they're tied. if the challenger and incumbent are tied, you'd rather be the challenger. then you look at the state polls, and it doesn't seem to be that picture at all. and i think some of the state polls are badly skewed. i mean, terror one out the other day that had a democratic advantage of nine points in ohio. if that's really true, ohio would be vermont, and no one would ever campaign in ohio. it wouldn't be a battleground state. >> schieffer: let's take a quick break here and we'll come

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i'm an ibmer. let's build a smarter planet. >> schieffer: we're back. john dickerson, i want to go to you. you know, we've been hearing two candidates talk about two very different visions of america as they define it. but if that's so, why is this election so close? >> well, because a lot of people are sorting immediately before they hear the arguments. they're sorting by party. people are more partisan. in states they're targeted and whipped up along partisan lieps. it's so close in these states because you have the left and right going to their parties and there aren't just that many undecided voters left over because they're either turned off and not participate ago the vast majority of people are not participating, and the ones that are participating that are undecided, are still small. that number of voters, small-- we don't know where they are. i think david is exactly right. it's too close to know what's going on. i think one other thing we have

to mention-- i know you'll talk about it in your second panel-- the advantage the president has in the electoral map. if you look at the nine states that are the battleground states, the president has 431 possible ways to get to that magical 270. mitt romney has 76. if the president wins florida, polls suggest and reporting on the ground suggestes, it's going romney's way. but if the president were to within florida, that leaves just one route to the presidency for mitt romney. the president, on the other hand, can lose florida, ohio, virginia, north carolina, and still have a route, not a really great one, but he would still have a route. so that's one of the advantages the president faces and he also has a strong ground game they've been working on for two years, which will help make up for it any lack of enthusiasm he may have among younger voters and-- >> schieffer: let me just say, david gergen, i think the worst of all worlds would be if one of the candidates won the popular vote and other won the electoral college gee, .

>> i agree. >> schieffer: do you see any possibility that could happen? >> theoretically, absolutely. we're in a situation now, where romney, in several polls is either tied or ahead in the national vote, yet behind in the electoral college. yes, charlie cook thinks there's a one in three chance of doing that. i think it goes to the question of governing. the question to me has not been who the win but can the winner govern, do the grand bargain and do the other things to unite this country. the fact is, as it's narrowed down, it's gotten so close, i think governs has become harder. i thought at one point obama could break out and win a big victory, and i thought at one point romney could potentially break out. i don't think the winner is going to have a mandate. i don't think winner is going to have a clear mandate. we're really going to have a country that remains bitterly and closely divided and it's tough to govern. >> part of that is-- is-- is

built into the structure of this. the battleground has shrunk to this hand full of contested battleground state. in 1960, there was an equally close race, soon-to-be president candidate campaigned in 49 states, nixon campaigned in 50 states. all the principles on all sides are in a hand full of states, and it makes by definition the race much more divisive. you have to drive a wedge when it's a 50-50 race. you can't come up with a broad national message that creates a mandate for governing. the process preclude precludes it. >> schieffer: i think so, too. this whole battled ground state thing we're now into i think it just increases the partisanship. i saw a thing the other day that barack obama's margin in 2008 came from 10 counties in united states. 3,000-something, 3,000-plus counties in the united states. if you take 10 counties out of that, barack obama would not

have won the presidenciy. the votes are so concentrated and i think naitself lead to this partisanship. >> it's a function of the geographic and cultural division of our politices, and on what's going to happen next, david, i think you're basically right. the president chose to run an almost entirely negative campaign based on destroying mitt romney from beginning to the end. but his second-term agenda is based on working something out with the congressional republicans. and if he wins in these circumstances a very narrow victory, probably having run this kind of campaign, republicans aren't going to be more pliable. they're going to be less so. >> you think they're be more resistant if he wins? they'll be more resistant in the house? >> yes. and romney on the other hand getting his stuff done depends on having a republican senate which looks like a dicey proposition at the moment. the only way a republican senate is going to happen is if romney wins and all the states tip in one direction. >> if you look at some of these

senate racees, they're happening in states that are red or blue but you have the opposite team winning. if you look at indiana, arizona, missouri, massachusetts, states either very blue or very red, the senate races are quite close. that tells us in the president yool game where the math is to get you to 270, you spend your time in the close states, you can't waste time in missouri. president obama did in 2008. he got a gargantuan last rally. didn't do him any good. he lost in missouri. if you're a senate candidate who spending time in miy as a candidate and have a candidate who steps in it as todd akin did, you have a chance of winning that state. while on the presidential map missouri looks red. in the senate race where you can talk to the voters as a democrat, you can do okay. the same may be true in massachusetts. a very blue state where you've got a republican who is talking about local issues who can win. but in the presidential race, you don't have the time to spend in those state because they won't get you to 270. >> schieffer: rich, in 30 seconds, tell me when we'll be saying around this table next

week. you don't have to predict who won. whoever won, where do you think he would have won? >> i think if romney wins, which i think will happen, is going to be because of his message. it's a message becaused on change, based on hope and optimism, and based on actually having a plan. that's the closing argument he's pounding away on. >> schieffer: dee dee, what do you think? >> i think we'll be talking-- this has been a very mechanical race. i think we'll be talking about president obama's ground game, how he identified his voters, getting them to the polls and i think if he wins, that will be the difference. >> schieffer: all right, thank you all. this is a lot of fun to talk to you. >> thank you. >> schieffer: back in a moment in some of my own thoughts. i'm a conservative investor. i invest in what i know. i turned 65 last week. i'm getting married. planning a life. there are risks, sure.

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they can help, but recent research shows... ... nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong foundation. let's invest in our teachers so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. >> schieffer: some of you watched the debate may remember they closed the evening with the words from my mother who said, any vote, it makes you feel big and strong. she was the driving force in my life and she she really believed that. to her it was a qualifier. if you don't vote, you have no root to criticize what happens after the election. she was not bashful about exercisin exercising that right, and i feel the same way, but i take it a step beyond that. i like to vote because it is so much fun. and here's a confession-- sometimes voting against someone i don't like is more fun than voting for someone i do like.

and here's the best thing of all-- you can vote for or against someone for the best of reasons, the wrong reasons, or no reason at all. it is your vote, and you can do with it as you choose. in fact, you can waste it if you like. you can tell everyone or no one. my wife instructs me not to tell her who i vote for. she's afraid i might disappoint her. so i've never told anyone how i voted. until now inspect. in this new spirit of full disclosure i'm going to confess i once voted for walter cronkite, but i'm not saying when. basement.

>> schieffer: some of our stations are leaving us now, but for most of you we'll be back with more on what's going to happen on tuesday. we'll have a panel of top experts. we'll go through the battleground state, ,,,,,,,,,,