Romney's ‘staged’ Sandy relief event

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With Sandy blown, the race must go on. But it's certainly not making life as a campaign manager any easier. When Mitt Romney turned a recent event into a disaster relief rally, aides worried that supporters would ruin the photo-op by arriving without supplies to donate.

The solution? A $5,000 shopping trip to a nearby Walmart, so those who did come with nothing could "just grab something" from a pile of granola bars, canned food and diapers and hand it over to Mitt. "Say cheese!"

Salon criticised the rally, pointing out that the Red Cross didn't even accept goods, preferring donations of blood or money. Ohio's Democratic Party Chairman went further and accused Romney of "taking advantage of a tragedy".