With one week until election day, U.S. President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, are balancing how to make their final pitches to voters while tens of millions of people along the country's east coast deal with a massive storm.

Both candidates have canceled their planned Tuesday appearances, instead focusing their messages on storm victims and calling for donations to relief organizations.

The storm's impact includes several political battleground states that analysts say are key to the outcome of the November 6 election, including Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Ohio.

In some parts of Virginia and North Carolina early voting sites have been closed as the storm moves through, and sites in Washington remain closed Tuesday.

Mr. Obama returned to the White House Monday to oversee the government's response to the storm. Mr. Romney's aides say he may visit areas impacted by the storm later this week.