DAYTON, Ohio — The last-minute decision by Romney high command Monday to suspend politics while Sandy raged sent aides in Ohio scrambling to convert a scheduled victory rally into an apolitical "storm relief event" — a process that tested the campaign's agility and left a few threads of partisanship inadvertently hanging. 
 
 On Monday morning, Romney's local team in Dayton was eagerly preparing to host the candidate the following day. A high school gym had been reserved, a stage had been rented, and a pair of celebrity guests — country singer Randy Owen and NASCAR driver Richard Petty — had been booked to give the event some B-list heft. 
 
 Then, a little before noon, communications director Gail Gitcho announced the cancellation of "all events currently scheduled" for Tuesday. The superstorm that forecasters had been warning about for days had picked up steam, and people throughout the Northeast were now bracing for the worst. In a statement, Gitcho said the decision to cancel campaign events had been made "out of sensitivity to the millions of Americans in the path of Hurricane Sandy." 
 
 But Boston wasn't quite ready to lose a full day of swing state visibility with a week left in the race. So, after some deliberation, the campaign decided to use their existing venue in Ohio to stage a makeshift and nonpartisan humanitarian project. It would be a way for Romney to show leadership — and get on the local news — without looking craven or opportunistic. 
 
 The cryptic advisory went out to press several hours later, announcing the time and location of a "storm relief event" on Tuesday. As Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, Romney's campaign jet carried the candidate, along with his staff and traveling press corps, back to Ohio after an afternoon rally in Davenport, Iowa. 
 
 Meanwhile, on the ground in Dayton, aides were working feverishly to depoliticize the planned event. Campaign signs were removed from the premises, long rows of folding tables were set up, and logistics were painstakingly arranged to accomodate physical donations. 
 
 "It took the production company and event staff on-site some time to ensure that it was converted into a space which was suitable for the needs of a relief effort," said one staffer who was there. 
 
 The plan was for supporters to bring hurricane relief supplies to the event and then deliver the bags of canned goods, packages of diapers, and cases of water bottles to the candidate, who would be perched behind a table along with a slew of volunteers and his Ohio right-hand man, Senator Rob Portman. To complete the project and photo op, Romney would lead his crew in carrying the goods out of the gymnasium and into the Penske rental truck parked outside. 
 
 But the last-minute nature of the call for donations left some in the campaign concerned that they would end up with an empty truck. So the night before the event, campaign aides went to a local Wal-Mart and spent $5,000 on granola bars, canned food, and diapers to put on display while they waited for donations to come in, according to one staffer. (The campaign confirmed that it "did donate supplies to the relief effort," but would not specify how much it spent.) 
 
 At more senior levels of the campaign, careful consideration was being given to the tone of the program, officials said. Romney would scrap his normal stump speech and replace it with brief, optimistic remarks on the spirit of volunteerism. And Owen would still perform with his band, but he would refrain from cheerleading his candidate, and instead talk about the devastation he saw in Alabama after tornadoes tore through his home state last year. 
 
 When showtime arrived the following morning, local campaign staffers were pleasantly surprised by their supporters' generosity. 
 
 "We were incredibly pleased with the outpouring of support we received from volunteers and generous contributors from southwest and central Ohio," said Christopher Maloney, Romney's Ohio spokesman, adding, "We’re pleased that Ohio could play a role, albeit a minor one, in the relief effort." 
 
 But the event had its hitches. When reporters arrived on site ahead of the candidate, they were given press badges describing the event as a "victory rally" — a result, one aide told BuzzFeed, of the event's last-minute repurposing. He said the badges were printed Monday morning, before the change had been announced. 
 
 And shortly thereafter, the two large projector screens near the ceiling lit up with a glossy, 10-minute biographical video about the candidate, one that debuted at the Republican National Convention. A state campaign official blamed "someone from the audiovisual team" for playing the video without the campaign's permission. 
 
 But reporters, many of whom had spent the night before glued to hotel television sets watching their hometown of New York get ravaged by the hurricane, were sensitive to the hints of politics at the event and took to Twitter to voice their skepticism. 
 
 By the time Romney's motorcade rolled up to the high school, the projector screens were displaying Red Cross donation information, and grocery bags stuffed with supplies were piled up in a corner of the gym. 
 
 Romney kept his speech brief, expressing concern for the victims of the storm, while trying to keep the mood of the event upbeat. Standing on a small platform, he recalled a time in high school when he and his classmates were charged with cleaning up a football field covered in garbage. 
 
 “The person who was responsible for organizing the effort said, 'Just line up along the yard lines,'" the candidate said. "'You go between the goal line and the 10-yard line. And the next person, between 10 and 20, and then just walk through and do your lane. And if everybody cleans their line, why, we’ll be able to get the job done.'" 
 
 "And so today," he went on. "We are cleaning one lane, if you will." 
 
 The crowd of about 2,000 erupted in applause. 
 
 But even as Romney, clad in blue jeans and rolled-up sleeves, hustled around his area of the gym, shaking hands, thanking supporters, and stacking cases of bottled water on top of each other, signs of stagecraft remained. 
 
 As supporters lined up to greet the candidate, a young volunteer in a Romney/Ryan T-shirt stood near the tables, his hands cupped around his mouth, shouting, "You need a donation to get in line!" 
 
 Empty-handed supporters pled for entrance, with one woman asking, "What if we dropped off our donations up front?" 
 
 The volunteer gestured toward a pile of groceries conveniently stacked near the candidate. "Just grab something," he said. 
 
 Two teenage boys retrieved a jar of peanut butter each, and got in line. When it was their turn, they handed their "donations" to Romney. He took them, smiled, and offered an earnest "Thank you." ||||| TAMPA -- Mitt Romney has been urging supporters to donate money to the American Red Cross to help fund storm relief efforts, and on Wednesday an aide disclosed that the Republican presidential nominee has made a donation himself. The aide declined to disclose the amount of the donation.In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Romney canceled his campaign events on Tuesday, instead staging a "storm relief event" in Kettering, Ohio. The nominee joined about 2,000 supporters to help pack supplies such as canned goods, rice and diapers. 
 
 "The American Red Cross appreciates the support from the Romney campaign and is working with the campaign to process this donation of supplies," the relief agency said in a statement. "We are grateful that both the Obama and Romney campaigns have also encouraged the public to send financial donations to the Red Cross. We encourage individuals who want to help to consider making a financial donation or making an appointment to give blood." 
 
 The organization generally "does not accept or solicit individual donations or collections of items," according to its Web site, because dealing with incoming supplies "impedes the valuable resources of money, time, and personnel." 
 
 Romney returns to full-time campaigning on Wednesday in Florida, with three rallies planned in Tampa, Coral Gables and Jacksonville. He will be accompanied by former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio (R). ||||| Business 
 
 MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday questioned the sincerity of a “storm relief” event organized by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Ohio, arguing that the Red Cross apparently has no need for donated clothes or canned goods. 
 
 “You’ve got the image of Mitt Romney doing what, they say, is not a campaign event in the same space they were going to hold a campaign event. They say they’re making collections for hurricane and storm relief,” the MSNBC anchor said during a Tuesday broadcast of “Mitchell Reports.” 
 
 “We checked with the Red Cross. The Red Cross said, while they’re always grateful for donations, that this is not what they need or want. They always tell people, ‘please donate money, because we have our own packagers, wholesalers’ — they have their own distribution system,” she continued. 
 
 Yes, with major weather events like Superstorm Sandy, the Red Cross does put an emphasis on monetary donations. That’s probably why, along with tables “piled high with flashlights, batteries, diapers, toothbrushes, mini-deodorants, fleece blankets, cereal, toilet paper and canned goods,” the Romney event also featured two large TV screens encouraging supporters to text “REDCROSS” to 90999 and “make a $10 donation.” 
 
 “And to now get these canned goods from the Romney event in Ohio, and have to first package it — used clothes, they have to clean, they can’t go directly to victims. So, what they need are donations of blood and donations of money,” said Mitchell. “It does seem like a thinly veiled, uh, why Ohio? Why choose Ohio for –” 
 
 “You, know, right, because the storm is kinda’” the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza chimed in. 
 
 “Not in Ohio?” she said, finishing his sentence for him. 
 
 Well, actually, if you want to get technical about it: 
 
 Yes, the effects of Superstorm Sandy ​have ​been felt in Ohio: 
 
 Hundreds of thousands of homes across Northeast Ohio were still without power this morning as high winds and rain from tropical rainstorm Sandy lashed a wide swath of the country, from Florida to Canada and as far west as Chicago. 
 
 And just for good measure: “The state of Ohio is opening its emergency operations center after Superstorm Sandy left more than 250,000 people without power.” 
 
 Representatives from the Red Cross have not yet responded to TheBlaze’s request for comment regarding Mitchell’s remarks, which you can see below: 
 
 UPDATE — In case you missed it, ​MSNBC’s Martin Bashir also felt it was necessary to criticize the Romney campaign’s disaster relief efforts: 
 
 Note the chyron (the words on the bottom of the screen): 
 
 How’s this for a reasonable chyron twitter.com/mcmoynihan/sta… — Michael C Moynihan (@mcmoynihan) October 30, 2012 
 
 Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter 
 
 Front page photo courtesy Getty. This story has been updated. 
 
 ||||| Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern on Tuesday accused Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney of politicizing Hurricane Sandy with a Dayton event that was billed as storm relief but also had characteristics of a campaign rally. 
 
 Romney spoke only briefly at the event, to encourage donations to storm victims, and volunteers collected canned goods to send to those suffering in New Jersey. But Romney’s biographical video, routinely played at campaign rallies, was used to introduce the event, as was his routine rally music. 
 
 “I think Gov. Romney ought to be focused on things he could do and say on behalf of the victims, rather than going to Dayton Ohio — the most important swing state in the country — and taking advantage of a tragedy,” Redfern said. 
 
 “Look, I’m a partisan. I’ll let others judge this,” he continued. “But I think someone of Gov. Romney’s wealth could have just written a check for $10 million to the American Red Cross and then spent today with his family. He chose to do something much different. He chose to politicize this." 
 
 Ohio Republican Party spokesman Matthew Henderson countered that Democrats were the ones making a disaster political. 
 
 “It’s wrong to see the Ohio Democratic Party politicize an attempt to aid relief efforts. Governor Romney’s first and only concern is for the safety and well-being of those who have been impacted by the storm’s path," Henderson said. "It’s shameful that the Democratic Party would try to impugn Governor Romney for raising funds for and turning attention to the victims of the hurricane while he was here in Ohio.”
– When Mitt Romney's campaign made the hasty decision to transform yesterday's planned Ohio campaign event into a Hurricane Sandy disaster relief rally, they were afraid no one would get the message in time to bring donations, hence ruining the photo-op. So campaign aides ran to Walmart the night before and bought $5,000 worth of supplies like granola bars, canned food, and diapers, sources tell Buzzfeed. To greet Romney, supporters had to hand him some donation, but if they didn't have one, they were told to "just grab something" from the pile of pre-purchased groceries. Liberals had been criticizing the rally even before the Buzzfeed story broke, because the Red Cross actively discourages donations of goods; it has thanked Romney, but urged people to donate money or blood instead. Ohio's Democratic Party Chairman went so far as to accuse Romney of "taking advantage of a tragedy," the Washington Post reports. But Romney did also solicit monetary donations for the charity, and today made one of his own, an aide tells the paper, though he wouldn't say for how much.