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Until last week, climate change was pretty much a dormant issue in the presidential campaign.

Except for environmental activists, hardly anybody was talking about it 鈥� certainly neither of the candidates in any sustained or substantial way.

鈥淥bama has been mostly climate-mum since 2009,鈥� observed Scott Rosenberg, executive editor of Grist, the environmental news and commentary web site. 鈥淢eanwhile, Mitt Romney has walked back from his carbon-cutting Massachusetts policies and embraced the current GOP orthodoxy, which is to聽mock anyone 鈥� including the president 鈥� who suggests taking the issue of the planet's warming seriously.鈥�

(In his nomination acceptance speech in Tampa, Fla., Romney played for laughs Obama鈥檚 2008 line about how 鈥済enerations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that 鈥� this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.鈥�)

IN PICTURES: Sandy, an unrelenting storm

Then came the political gale force known as Sandy. The ocean did rise, and with it the rhetoric on climate change 鈥� not so much from Obama or Romney, but from others concerned that manmade carbon emissions had reached the point where severe climate events are occurring more frequently and with greater devastation.

鈥淭here鈥檚 been a series of extreme weather incidents,鈥� said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not a political statement; that鈥檚 a factual statement 鈥� I said to the president kiddingly the other day, we have a 100-year flood every two years now.鈥�

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg 鈥� whose city saw much of the flooding and billions of dollars in damages that have left many thousands without power, some of them still stranded 鈥� took Sandy as a good reason to get off the political fence and endorse Obama for re-election.

鈥淥ur climate is changing,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淎nd while the increase in extreme weather we have experienced in聽New York City and around the world may or may not be the result of it, the risk that it might be 鈥� given this week鈥檚 devastation 鈥� should compel all elected leaders to take immediate action.鈥�

Speaking of candidates Obama and Romney, he continued, 鈥淥ne sees聽climate change as an urgent problem that threatens our planet; one does not. I want our president to place scientific evidence and risk management above electoral politics.鈥�

Critics say Romney has switched (or at least greatly changed) his position on a range of issues from health care to gun control, immigration to abortion. This week, it鈥檚 his shifting rhetoric on climate change that鈥檚 being reviewed.

As Massachusetts governor, Romney joined a regional cap- and-trade plan to reduce聽carbon emissions.

鈥淭he benefits will be long- lasting and enormous 鈥� benefits to our health, our economy, our quality of life, our very landscape,鈥� he wrote at the time. 鈥淭hese are actions we can and must take now, if we are to have 鈥榥o regrets鈥� when we transfer our temporary stewardship of this Earth to the next generation.鈥�

鈥淪tewardship of the earth鈥� is not a phrase Romney uttered during the campaign. Nor is it heard much from Obama as he fights over other issues toward what he hopes will be a second term.

Still, as Mayor Bloomberg pointed out in his endorsement message, Obama did take major steps to reduce carbon emissions, including setting聽higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks and adopting tighter controls on mercury emissions, which will help to close the dirtiest coal-fired power plants.

Hurricane Sandy has given activists reason to raise climate change as the planet鈥檚 most daunting environmental challenge.

鈥淲e have entered a new era,鈥� blogs Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. 鈥淐limate change has begun to make its presence known. It is heating up our oceans and pumping hurricanes and other storms with extra energy, more moisture, and stronger winds. It is swelling our seas, so that storm surges are higher and cause more flooding. From Norfolk, Virginia to Boston, sea levels are聽rising four times as fast as the global average. Hurricane Sandy cut right along those swollen seas.鈥�

Most climate scientists caution against asserting any direct connection between a single hybrid storm like Sandy and Earth鈥檚 generally agreed upon warming trend tied to industrial and motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.

But in the world of politics, even the possibility of such a connection has brought climate change back into the conversation.

IN PICTURES: Sandy, an unrelenting storm