Politico‘s Jonathan Martin raises a great question: “Are east-coast pols not getting how bad the fires are? Any candidates in SoCal this week?”

On one hand, this is a major disaster and the most dominant story in this news cycle. On the other hand, it could be seen as opportunistic and getting in the way. John Kerry faced this same dilemma in 2004 when four hurricanes slammed Florida.

Here’s a great NASA satellite image of the fire, hat tip to Caffeinated Politics.

Using Slate’s “Map the Candidates” feature, we can see which candidates have visited SoCal since Monday, October 22nd. Bill Richardson, marked by the light-blue star, rolled his Hispanic policy today in L.A. Mike Huckabee (the icon that says Huckabee with stripes) attended a fundraiser in Huntington Beach on Monday, the 22nd. And Dennis Kucinich (the American flag with a peace sign) led a rally and fundraiser in Madre on Sunday, the 21st.