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October 31, 2012 | | ALLIES A new political odd couple has emerged in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. President Obama landed in Atlantic City, New Jersey this afternoon to tour the state's damage with Gov. Chris Christie. The pair then took off in the Marine One helicopter for an aerial assessment of the devastation. On Tuesday, Christie said of Obama, "It's been very good working with the president. He and his administration have been coordinating with us. It's been wonderful." Howard Kurtz on how Obama picked off one of Romney's stars. CREEPY They're still, there...lurking. As the city's subway system begins to lurch back to life, limited service will resume on Thursday. The Daily Beast's Winston Ross talks to vermin experts about why Hurricane Sandy may have made our rat problem even worse. IN THE DARK Get used to it. Power companies warned that East Coast outages could last more than a week for the estimated 2.6 million currently without electricity. Despite thousands of crews working on restoration, flooding, damage, and strong winds are slowing the efforts. Traffic lights are out in several cities and downed lines pose a danger. More bad news: no power hampers the work to get the subway system running again. Power companies will get electricity to hospitals and important locations first. TAKE THAT SANDY You couldn't keep New York on its knees for too long, Sandy. The city's subway system will return on a limited basis on Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday. There will be no subway service below 34th St. in Manhattan due to the lack of electricity, while three of the seven East River tunnels have been pumped. There will be limited Long Island Rail Road and Metropolitan North service beginning at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Cuomo said he has spoken to President Obama, who has been "very on top of the situation." Obama is touring the devastated New Jersey shore with Gov. Chris Christie, who has called the hurricane damage “worse than anything I ever thought I would see.” BACK IN BUSINESS Stock exchanges opened Wednesday morning, following the first close for weather that lasted more than one day since 1888. New York City Michael Bloomberg rang the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange, which was running on backup power because of blackouts in lower Manhattan. Brokers still had to deal with limited Internet and cell phone service. Trading was brisk, and stocks values began climbing right after the opening bell. However, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were trending downwards by midday. | | 
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