Will the devastation of Superstorm Sandy tone down the hostile rhetoric of the presidential campaign?

The answer Wednesday was yes, at least by President Barack Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney, who left it to surrogates and others to do the political dirty work.

Obama avoided any overt political statements when he toured storm damage in New Jersey with Republican Gov. Chris Christie, a frequent critic who has praised the president's response to the disaster.

His comments at the end of the trip focused on the federal response, but concluded with a theme from Obama's campaign stump speech about Americans working together to help each other.

"We go through tough times, but we bounce back," the president said at the North Point Marina in Brigantine. "We bounce back because we look out for one another, and we don' t leave anybody behind."

Obama also made sure his role in the federal response to the disaster was well publicized.

Before heading to New Jersey, he visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency to meet with officials coordinating federal efforts. After his tour, Obama spoke of a 15-minute rule he imposed that requires federal relief officials to respond for calls for help from local authorities within that time period, adding that "if they need something, you figure out a way to say yes."

Romney campaigns in Florida

At his first bona fide campaign events since Sandy blasted the East Coast earlier this week, Romney focused his remarks on his oft-repeated five-point plan to increase domestic energy, expand trade, improve education and training, balance the budget and help small businesses.

He included some muted zingers, telling crowds in Tampa and Coral Gables that "I don't just talk about change," a reference to what he has previously called Obama's failure to deliver on the "hope and change" theme from 2008.

Romney's main message was the need to change the direction of the country from the chronic deficits and mounting debt of past years, saying the country required leaders who worked "in the interests of people" instead of seeking political gain.

A Romney spokesman told reporters the more positive stance by the former Massachusetts governor was planned.

"Our focus today is going to continue to be to strike a positive tone about what the governor would do on Day One of a Romney presidency," said campaign adviser Kevin Madden.

While Romney never mentioned Obama by name, some backers who spoke before him in Coral Gables were less reticent to attack.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush asked if "you honestly think that this president is capable of bringing people together," then said Obama's campaign strategy "is to blame others, starting with my brother" -- former President George W. Bush, who preceded Obama in the White House.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida raised the issue of a terrorist attack in Libya on September 11 that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, complaining Obama was "nowhere to be found" to answer questions about what happened.

Conservative commentators allege a White House cover-up because some top officials, including U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, initially indicated a protest over an anti-Islam film spawned the deadly attack.

The Obama administration denies any attempt to mislead, saying initial intelligence reports were conflicting, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has appointed a panel to review what happened.

On the Democratic side, Vice President Joe Biden kept up his steady political attacks on the Republican ticket.

At an event in Sarasota, Florida, Biden called Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, "shameless" and accused them of running "one of the most flagrantly dishonest ads I can ever remember in my political career" in reference to a television spot that claims Chrysler was shifting Jeep manufacturing from the United States to China.

Officials of the company have declared the Romney ad incorrect, saying manufacturing abroad was an expansion of operations in the United States, rather than outsourcing.

"It's an outrageous lie," Biden said, adding the Romney ad caused U.S. autoworkers to call their union offices asking if it was true manufacturing jobs were transferred abroad. "What a cynical, cynical thing to do ... to go out and try to scare these people for electoral reasons at the end, to say something that's so untrue."

When asked about Biden's comment, Madden of the Romney campaign said the ad "makes the case for why Gov. Romney would be stronger for the auto industry and why the auto industry's an important part of a strong economy."

Ryan also addressed the issue at an appearance in Wisconsin, noting that the federal bailout of the auto industry resulted in plants shutting down -- including some in the state.

"American taxpayers are on track to lose $25 billion as a result of President Obama's handling of the auto bailout, and GM and Chrysler are expanding their production overseas," Ryan said in an earlier statement.

Obama will return to full campaign mode on Thursday with events in Wisconsin, Colorado and Nevada -- all still up for grabs and therefore crucial to both candidates. His intention Wednesday was to project the image of a president focused on the well-being of fellow citizens in need.

After flying over parts of the Jersey shoreline and other areas, Obama and Christie met with displaced people in a shelter and later walked through damaged neighborhoods in an entourage that included the state's two Democratic senators - Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez.

On Tuesday, Christie praised Obama as "outstanding" and "incredibly supportive" in responding to Sandy, a radical change from the political attacks the Republican usually launches in his role as a top surrogate for Romney.

The governor repeated his complimentary tone while with Obama on Wednesday, saying: "I cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for our state and the people of our state."

Hard-hitting attacks from candidate supporters

Meanwhile, supporters of the candidates continued hard-hitting attacks.

Priorities USA Action, a super PAC backing Obama, announced a new ad accusing Romney and former Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a fellow Republican, of benefiting from Medicare fraud.

"While Romney served as a director of the Damon Corporation, the company stole $25 million from Medicare," said a release by Priorities USA Action, attributing the information to a Boston Globe report from 2002. "Romney made half a million dollars - some of the profit generated by the fraud. Rick Scott was CEO of the company that committed what was the largest Medicare fraud in history."

The group also said Romney plans to cut funding for Medicare and change it to a voucher system that would increase costs for senior citizens. Romney rejects that characterization of a proposal to partially privatize the government-run health care system for elderly Americans.

There was no immediate response from the Romney campaign to the super-PAC ad.

Florida, with 29 electoral votes, is the biggest haul available from the battleground states still contested, and Medicare is a major issue there because of the large number of senior citizens who live there.

For its part, the Romney campaign revived a widely-discredited welfare claim in a new television ad that cited the "gutting" of the work requirement in welfare by Obama.

An earlier string of ads making a similar claim was rated as "Pants on Fire" -- or completely false -- by the independent and non-partisan fact-checking organization PolitiFact.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith responded that the welfare ad showed desperation by the Romney campaign.

Meanwhile, Focus on the Family, the Colorado-based social conservative organization founded by evangelical author and radio host James Dobson, sent a mailing in Iowa that quotes Obama as saying "we are no longer a Christian nation."