The presidential candidates resume campaigning in the calm after the storm this week.

Mitt Romney makes three stops in Florida today while President Obama resumes campaigning tomorrow with a stop in Wisconsin. It’s unclear what Sandy’s political implications may be and how much it will affect the outcome of the election.

Former Senior Adviser to President Clinton Richard Socarides and CNN Contributor Will Cain join Zoraida Sambolin and John Berman on “Early Start” to break down the race.

Cain doesn’t think the storm will have any major impact on the election. He thinks the candidates’ distance from campaigning due to Sandy, however, may have done some good.

“I think it’s a little bit of healthy hiatus,” Cain says. “To stop the constant cycle of ‘did you hear this gaffe?’ and ‘oh my gosh’ from the campaign trail allows you to step back for a moment and remember real life, and ask yourself ‘what’s really important?’ regarding this vote you’re gonna make a week from now.”

Socarides agrees. “I think the rhetoric is gonna be slightly less sharp,” Socarides says. “I think the candidates will have to adjust.”

Returning to the campaign trail, the swing states are still as important as ever. President Obama leads in Ohio, Florida and Virginia in a the latest Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS poll, but the race is still tight.

“Whatever happens there,” Cain says, “whatever happens in Ohio will have huge ramifications. We all know Ohio is the most important state in how this presidential election turns out.” Even though Obama holds a slight edge, as is expected from an incumbent president, “it’s gonna be a very close election by all signs,” Socarides says.

With less than one week left until Election Day, the race is extremely sensitive. And with Superstorm Sandy in the mix, this is a very different race.

The storm stopped the race in its tracks and may very well have become the “October Surprise” to change the course of the race in its critical final days. But now the candidates return to the campaign trail after a brief break from politics. Mitt Romney makes three stops in Florida today while President Obama resumes campaigning tomorrow with a stop in Wisconsin.

This morning on "Early Start," CNN Political Editor Paul Steinhauser explains the dead heat in the presidential race.

Nationally, there have been eight polls, live operator and non-partisan polls, since the last presidential debate. CNN's Poll of Polls averaged them all together and Steinhauser says, “Basically, it is a dead heat.”

The poll places Mitt Romney at 48% and President Obama at 48% among likely voters. But Steinhauser points out what’s really important. “The battle for the White House is a battle for the states and their electoral votes.” The latest QuinnipiacUniversity/New York Times/CBS poll out this morning shows the president in the lead in Ohio, Florida and Virginia. But the race is still tight.

The topic of political discussion now is what Mitt Romney would do with FEMA if he were elected. “Democrats in the Obama campaign are pointing back to some comments that Mitt Romney made way back in June of 2011 in a CNN debate, a Republican presidential debate, in New Hampshire moderated by our John King.” But Romney avoided answering questions about what he would do with FEMA when reporters asked him numerous times at a disaster relief event yesterday in Ohio.