many, many hours away. this is a serious storm, and officials want people to take it seriously. a short time ago a surfer was pulled out of the water here. that man was arrested and charged because officials want to make it clear to people that this is not a game. this is not a time to be seeking a thrill in the ocean. this is very dangerous, and people are putting first responders lives at risk to rescue them. tamron. thank you very much. more information we re getting in. the major road closures. for example, new jersey turnpike authorities say they ll close the garden state parkway in both directions. i believe that s around 66 miles, so this is impacting what you see there. obviously, this is live video comes into us. major roadways, tunnels, people have been told to evacuate. some mandatory evacuations at this point even in rhode island, for example, where the governor is saying if you re not out, you may have to as they say hunker down in your home. this is point pleasant beac
surprisingly fast. also, this could happen anytime during the next three hours, and it s exacerbated by high tide. so at this point bryan norcross is reporting that sandy is approaching the coast faster than forecasts originally predicted. let me bring in the weather channel hurricane expert as well, dr. greg pistole. thank you for time. obviously, we re talking about what s up happening immediately. we re keeping an eye on new jersey as bill karins says that s where we expect the major impact. people want to know why this storm is so tremendous and why we see in west virginia the blizzard-like conditions and what we re watching right now play out. sandy is a combination of a whole lot of systems. we have a hurricane right here, but it s associated with a nor easter-like component. right now the center of sandy as bryan has mentioned is moving fast towards the south jersey coast. it s about 80 miles offshore
and what we re seeing including the news coverage of this des moines register endorsement which would be a headline today aathp point. how impactful is it when you combine the storm coverage and does it matter what the newspaper editorial board said. it won t get the national coverage it would have gotten the day after the weekend, but it is still going to be a big issue in iowa. it s the largest paper in iowa. now all four of the major papers in iowa have all endorsed mitt romney. so i do think that as the president s been looking for to stop some of the mitt romney s momentum in some places, that he would have liked that little bit of a boost from the des moines register. he still probably has a narrow edge in iowa, but he has to do it without their support. the paper says that mitt romney offers a fresh economic visi vision. what do they point as a specific of the vision that apparently impressed them?
denying it has any plans to move jeep output to china from the united states. that portion of his comments not in the new ad, but nevertheless the new ad still misleading there. but the polls have tightened at least according to one from the state. it shows the race i think we have those numbers neck in neck at this point. why is it still so close at this point in your state? well, i think you re referring to the ohio poll. absolutely. we have it up. it s 49/49 there. yes. the ohio poll has always has a conservative tent, but the fact is the most recent poll, the ppp poll has it i believe at 50/46. that s consistent with most other more recent polling. so i think it s very close. the president won four years ago i think 51/47. i think we can end up with those numbers in this race.
me quickly about the perils for both of them. obviously, the president is the president. this is his responsibility, to have the concern of the american people on the forefront. what does governor romney do or say, other than this point that he s trying to be sense and pull off the campaign trail tomorrow and not today? it s no accident that bill clinton was in orlando. that s a key swing area right in the heart of that i-4 corridor. there was a cnn poll out today showing a 50/49 race between the two sides. pretty much a dead-even race. missing out on a day or two to get people out to the polls can really hurt both campaigns. mitt romney has to walk this fine line and so does the president not wanting to look too political in a situation like this when you could, as bill karins mentioned, see people out of power in the millions potentially for the next few days. let s bring chip in on this. you don t want to look too political, but one thing some have noted is governor romney made