Obama holds storm meeting, then hits campaign trail

President Obama conducted a Hurricane Sandy response meeting Saturday morning before heading out for a final weekend of campaigning ahead of Tuesday's election.

Obama spoke with aides at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington, D.C. The visit included a conference call with officials in northeast states hard hit by the storm, including Govs. Chris Christie, R-N.J.; Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y.; and Daniel Malloy, D-Conn.

"We still have a long way to go," Obama said after the FEMA briefing, though he added that everyone is making a "120 percent" effort. "We don't have patience for bureaucracy," Obama told reporters. "We don't have patience for red tape."

The president said officials are working on the five most pressing tasks: Getting assets in to restore power; pumping out water from flooding, making sure people's needs are being taken care of; removing debris; and getting National Guard in place.

"We're starting to shift" people from shelters to temporary housing," Obama said.

Earlier, in his weekly radio address, Obama thanked those who responded to the massive damage inflicted by Hurricane Sandy, and said that "our number one concern has been making sure that affected states and communities have everything they need to respond to and recover from this storm."

Obama added that "recovery will be a long, hard road for many communities -- there's a lot of work ahead."

After the Saturday morning meeting, Obama begins all-day campaigning in four key swing states: Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Virginia.

The president holds rallies at a high school in Mentor, Ohio; an arena in Milwaukee, Wis.; a park in Dubuque, Iowa; and a musical theater in Bristow, Va.

At the Virginia event, Obama will be joined by former President Bill Clinton.

Election Day against Republican Mitt Romney is on Tuesday.