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Renee Montagne and Steve Inskeep talk with NPR's Elizabeth Shogren and Zoe Chace for a roundup of news on Superstorm Sandy.

NPR Jim Zarroli speaks with Steve Inskeep about how Superstorm Sandy has impacted parts of New Jersey.

Renee Montagne talks to Frank Formica, owner of Formica Brothers Bakery and Cafe, in Atlantic City, N.J., about his experience during Hurricane Sandy.

Shirley Sherrod was forced out of the Department of Agriculture because of a misleading video. An edited clip appeared to show her saying she didn't want to help white farmers save their land. But the entire speech made it clear that Sherrod was actually saying racism is wrong. She talks with host Michel Martin about her book The Courage To Hope.

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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News. Coming up, NPR has a new poll out on the presidential race, so we decided to talk a little bit about the science and business of polling and why so many polls conflict with each other. That's in just a few minutes.

Election Day is a week away and it seems everywhere you look, there's a new poll on TV, online, or the radio. But they don't all say the same thing. Host Michel Martin looks at why the polls vary, and what they tell us. She talks with Stanford University political science professor Simon Jackman.

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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

And now for our conversation about personal finance. Especially in these lean times, savvy shoppers have been told never to leave the house without their coupons. Those who take it to another level call themselves extreme couponers. These big savers can load shopping carts with hundreds of dollars of merchandise and pay just a fraction of that for it. That's because they spend hours online writing companies and even dumpster diving to get as many coupons as they can.

Here's a clip from TLC's reality show "Extreme Couponing".

You can barely listen to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney make a speech or give an interview without hearing some variation of this vow:

"On Day 1 of my administration, I'll direct the secretary of Health and Human Services to grant a waiver from Obamacare to all 50 states. And then I'll go about getting it repealed," he told Newsmax TV in September 2011.

Attention medical students: When selecting your residency program, there's more than just geography and the hospital's reputation to consider.

For an update on superstorm Sandy's impact on the East Coast of the U.S., Renee Montagne and Steve Inskeep speak with NPR reporters Joel Rose, Elizabeth Shogren, Jim Zarroli, and Zoe Chace.

People across the New York metropolitan area confronted scenes of devastation from Superstorm Sandy on Tuesday: widespread flooding, power and transportation outages and a wind-swept fire that tore through dozens of houses in the borough of Queens.

Hurricane Sandy's on-the-ground devastation has yet to be cataloged, and how the violent storm may affect the presidential campaign with just a week to Election Day is equally uncertain.

Will President Obama's response to the disaster help or hurt his re-election prospects? Or will the campaign's new trajectory — canceled appearances, postponed early voting — ultimately benefit Republican Mitt Romney?

Not really thinking much about that, are you?

Steve Inskeep talks with Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley about Hurricane Sandy and how it's affecting his state.

For Jennifer Kaye, Hurricane Sandy is a threat to her livelihood. Kaye is General Manager and Captain of the Schooner Woodwind, a family-owned business based in Annapolis, Maryland. She and her crew are riding out the storm on board a 74-foot sailboat. Kaye explains how being on the boat is key to protecting it.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And let's get another glimpse, as we are all morning, of New York City in the aftermath of what was Hurricane Sandy. We saw, overnight, dramatic video of around 50 homes burning in Queens. There was massive flooding in lower Manhattan.

NPR's Robert Smith is there. Robert, we saw a video of water that was going up to the door handles of cars. I trust that the waters receded somewhat at this point.

Sandy, the hurricane-turned-superstorm, has left dozens dead, millions without power and thousands in need of rescue from rising waters as it slowly moves north and west from the Mid-Atlantic to pass over the Great Lakes and into Canada.

According to The Associated Press, storm damage was projected at $20 billion, "meaning it could prove to be one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history."

Sandy has also taken a huge human toll: More than 30 deaths since the weekend and millions more coping with damaged homes, crippled transportation systems and no power.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

President Obama canceled his campaign events that were scheduled for today in Colorado and Wisconsin. He's staying in Washington to oversee the federal response to what is now described as a post-tropical storm, Sandy. Republican challenger Mitt Romney has also scaled back his events.

Now, as NPR's Scott Horsley reports, this gigantic storm has introduced a new and unpredictable element into the presidential race just one week before Election Day.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. In the midst of a monster storm, let's take a moment to contemplate a monster pumpkin. Out in California, John Sach grew a pumpkin weighing just under 1,000 pounds. He calls it Sally, and it won Orange County's annual Pumpkinmania contest. Sach's pumpkin outgrew the runner-up, named Gourdita, which was downright slim at 795 pounds. According to the O.C. Register, Sally's secret is simple - a lot of food and water. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

As Hurricane Sandy, or whether - at this point in time, it's Superstorm Sandy, when it did thunder ashore as a hurricane, Tamara Brownstein(ph) was assessing the damage. She was working for the Red Cross in Sea Bright, New Jersey.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Now, both campaigns are slicing and dicing the electorate, trying to find the exact combination of voters that results in a win, find just a few more of your people, identify them, get them to the polls. Ronald Brownstein of National Journal has been examining this. When we spoke several weeks ago, Brownstein said the following: President Obama's strategy is to capture 80 percent of the minority vote and at least compete for some of the white vote, as he did when he won in 2008.

Mitt Romney says he'll grant a waiver to all 50 states on Day 1 of his presidency so that they don't have to comply with the Affordable Care Act. But even his supporters question whether he would have the legal authority to do that. He's also promising to repeal it — a process that could take months, at a minimum — and he may not be able to totally repeal the law.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.

Let's work backward over the next few minutes, from the leading edge of super storm Sandy back to the coastline where it arrived last night.

NPR's Jon Hamilton is in our studios here in Washington. He starts us off. Jon, good morning.

JON HAMIILTON, BYLINE: Good morning.

INSKEEP: Where is the storm now?