Three years after he promised a rapt Cairo audience a shift in his country's unpopular Middle East policy, U.S. President Barack Obama goes to the polls leaving disappointment in a region swept by the Arab Spring.

Obama's critics say he has not honored his pledges, such as settling the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, or improving relations with Muslim countries.

President Barack Obama toured New Jersey's devastated coastline on Wednesday, vowing to stay with flood victims "for the long haul" as the U.S. toll from superstorm Sandy passed 70.

In New York, the stock exchanges and John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty airports reopened. But more than six million homes and businesses, the majority of them in New York state and neighboring New Jersey, remained without power.

U.S. President Barack Obama no longer inspires the enthusiasm he once did but Europe still favors him, doubtful of Republican challenger Mitt Romney even if his election would spell no fundamental change in ties with Washington.

With the race for the White House neck-and-neck, polls in Europe give Obama a massive lead -- 75 percent to just 8.0 percent for Romney according to the latest survey by the German Marshall Fund.

President Barack Obama planned to tour superstorm Sandy's debris field and Mitt Romney plotted a return to campaigning Tuesday, as high-stakes politics stirred back to life a week from election day.

During an unprecedented 24-hour truce so close to a U.S. presidential vote, the campaigns assessed the storm aftermath and how to squeeze the best use from fast dwindling days left in a race either man could still win.

U.S. President Barack Obama declared that megastorm Sandy had triggered "major disaster" in the states of New York and New Jersey and freed up federal aid for those who lost homes or businesses.

The declaration came after the massive storm battered the U.S. East Coast, flooding lower Manhattan and coastal New Jersey and leaving millions of people across the densely populated eastern seaboard without power.

President Barack Obama left the campaign trail Monday to lead his nation at a moment of crisis, steering the response to Hurricane Sandy, which left the endgame of the White House race in turmoil.

Republican Mitt Romney joined the president in canceling campaign appearances as high winds, swamping tides and lashing rain hit the northeastern United States and conjured a moment of political peril for the rivals.

Madonna drew boos and triggered a walkout by several concertgoers after she touted President Barack Obama on her "MDNA Tour" in New Orleans.

The Material Girl asked during Saturday night's performance: "Who's registered to vote?" She added: "I don't care who you vote for as long as you vote for Obama." Drawing boos in touting Obama over Republican Mitt Romney, Madonna followed: "Seriously, I don't care who you vote for ... Do not take this privilege for granted. Go vote."

Hurricane Sandy, bringing Monday a dangerous "October Surprise," has shredded candidates' endgame plans for next week's toss-up U.S. election in a new test of nerve for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

The U.S. President and his Republican foe dumped planned rallies in swing states in the path of the monster storm, upending strategies months in the making designed to eke out every last vote a week from election day.

The New York Times endorsed President Barack Obama on Saturday as he seeks a second term in the White House on November 6.

The prestigious newspaper said it supports the incumbent Democrat instead of Republican rival Mitt Romney because, among other things, he has achieved the most sweeping health care reforms since 1965, prevented another Great Depression and ended the war in Iraq.

Across the eastern United States, Americans scrambled Saturday to stock up on supplies and secure homes as Hurricane Sandy -- billed as a superstorm -- lumbered north after leaving dozens dead in the Caribbean.

The so-called Frankenstorm was expected to make landfall somewhere between Virginia and Massachusetts early Tuesday, possibly causing chaos during the frenzied last days of campaigning before the November 6 U.S. presidential vote.