TAMPA, Fla. – President Barack Obama put campaign battleground travel on hold to tour the ravaged New Jersey coast Wednesday, while down-to-the-wire campaigning resumed in swing state Florida that is critical to Republican Mitt Romney's victory plan.

Obama is emphasizing his incumbent's role for a third straight day, skipping voter contact to meet with officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Washington headquarters and visit victims of Hurricane Sandy around Atlantic City. The president planned to resume campaign travel Thursday with gusto, with stops in Nevada, Colorado and Wisconsin, before both candidates descend on Ohio Friday.

Obama left Wednesday's sharp-elbowed politicking to Vice President Joe Biden, who accused Romney of perpetrating "an outrageous lie" in an ad airing in Ohio that suggests Obama's policies are shipping Jeep manufacturing to China. Biden told Florida voters the ads are "scurrilous" and "one of the most flagrantly dishonest ads I can ever remember in my career," which stretches more than 40 years.