I'm a meteorologist. Have been for 25 years.
It's not hyped. The winds, because of structure, are not near the center. They are removed to the NE and SW. The pressure is low and will get lower. The issue, however, is sustained strong winds over an area. This will do 2 things: Power outages and surge. The angle of approach...the strong winds...will combine to give massive surge over NJ and NY. Add heavy rain on top of that.
I've never seen anything like it...a storm this big and headed WNW (eventually) towards the coast. It's once in a lifetime to see this sort of setup.
Obama’s loss will be blamed on the Hurricane. His people were without power and couldn’t get out to vote.