Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney held back from his usual attacks on President Barack Obama on Wednesday, as his campaign offered a more upbeat message with the East reeling from the storm Sandy.

As Obama travels to New Jersey to survey the damage with Republican Governor Chris Christie, Romney staged a show of strength in Florida, the most populous swing state where polls show him narrowly ahead.

He was joined by two of the most important politicians in the state, Republican Senator Marco Rubio and former Governor Jeb Bush, at a rally in a Tampa airport hangar.

Romney, who canceled political events earlier this week due to the storm, urged Florida voters to send donations to the Red Cross to help the victims. He said he believed his election next Tuesday would also be an example of Americans coming together.

“We come together at times like these. Now people coming together is what’s also going to happen on Nov. 7,” he said, referring to the day after the election.

Romney is doing better in polls in Florida than in Ohio, another must-win state where Obama was up five points in a New York Times-Quinnipiac University poll on Wednesday.

“He’s going to win Florida,” Bush told reporters confidently as he boarded Romney’s plane.

Romney aides say the race is essentially tied and have taken steps in recent days to try to take advantage of what they see as an opportunity in Pennsylvania, where polls have been tightening in the traditionally Democratic state.

The Romney campaign has spent on advertising in Pennsylvania although there has been no plan for the candidate to travel there.

In his remarks, Romney did not mention Obama by name. Instead he said electing the Republican would provide an opportunity for change.

“My view is pretty straightforward. I believe this is a time for America to take a different course, that this should be a turning point for our country,” he said.

(Reuters)