First lady Michelle Obama is spending the night in Chicago as she gears up for a  campaign tour through Iowa on Monday, the White House announced this morning.

The first lady was originally scheduled to fly directly to Iowa City on Monday. Her new itinerary has her leaving the East Coast what could be hours before Hurricane Sandy is expected to make landfall.

The first lady will stump for her husband Monday afternoon in Iowa City and Sioux City. On Monday night, she will fly back to Chicago.

The White House did not provide any further details about the first lady’s overnight stays in Chicago.

Both President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaigns have been shaken up by the impending “superstorm,” which reportedly killed 65 in the Caribbean last week.

Obama has canceled campaign events this week in northern Virginia and Colorado, while Romney ditched a stump stop today in Orlando, Fla., instead joining running mate Paul Ryan on a bus tour swinging through Ohio.

As of this afternoon, the so-called “Frankenstorm” is within 250 miles of Cape Hatteras, N.C., according to the National Hurricane Center.

Sandy’s effects could be felt as far as Chicago, where the National Weather Service issued a lakeshore flood watch this afternoon. The weather advisory lasts from late Monday night through Wednesday afternoon and forecasts waves as high as 20 feet along Lake Shore Drive.

While the first lady traveled to Chicago this afternoon, her husband huddled with emergency response officials at FEMA headquarters in the nation’s capital.

“As (FEMA administrator) Craig (Fugate) has emphasized, this hasn’t hit landfall yet,” the president said during the FEMA meeting, according to a White House pool report. “So we don’t know yet where it’s gonna hit, where we’re going to see the biggest impacts and that’s exactly why it’s so important for us to respond big and respond fast as local information starts coming in.”

— Patrick Svitek