An opportunity for Obama to throw a lot of money at voters right before the election.
Any Federal dollars flowing to the victims will be weeks in coming, long after the election.
Other than providing security, & search & rescue, the Feds role in recovery is minimal immediately after the storm.
And I can tell you from many experiences that storm victims are not sitting at home in the dark praising the quick reaction of ANY government - Fed, state, or local. If anything, officials are the target of bad jokes & angry frustration. Unmotivated voters will be even more unmotivated.
There is another aspect to this. Most folks lose cable tv for many days, leaving them with radio & local broadcast channels using rabbit ears. Local stations concentrate exclusively on the storm days after it passes, droning on endlessly about ice, MREs, & water. Little national & international news is available. This will hurt both candidates, but I suspect Obama will be the main loser from Sandy.