Hurricane Sandy steers Obama back to White House Monday; some events canceled

With some of the East Coast in the state of emergency Saturday, President Obama will cancel some campaign events Monday — including one with Bill Clinton — and return to the White House.

Obama will still attend an event in Youngstown, OH, with Clinton but then will return to Washington D.C.

“The President will return to the White House to continue to monitor Hurricane Sandy, which is currently forecasted to make landfall along the Eastern seaboard late that day,” Obama’s press secretary said in a statement. “As a result, the events in Northern Virginia on Monday and in Colorado Springs on Tuesday have been cancelled. Additional changes to Tuesday’s schedule will be announced as warranted.”

“The President is being regularly updated on the storm and ongoing preparations, and he has directed his team to continue to bring all available resources to bear as state and local partners continue to prepare for the storm. FEMA has already deployed teams and has pre-staged resources to potentially affected states and areas ahead of the storm, and FEMA remains in close contact with emergency responders in states up and down the East coast to ensure there are no unmet needs. The President will continue to receive regular briefings on these efforts, and has made clear that he expects his team to continue to lean forward as Hurricane Sandy approaches.”

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney is scheduled to campaign in Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin on Monday.