BrandonRittiman.com

Want to learn more about the issues and names on your ballot in Colorado? 9NEWS partnered with the Denver Post to bring you a series of debates on the hottest campaigns in Colorado. We set out to cover a lot of issues in the controversial marijuana amendment, and congressional races in districts 4, 6, and 7. From here, you can find links to all of these debates.

As of now, Colorado is the only swing state where you can turn on the TV without being bombarded by political ads. That's about to change. They've been suspended in the wake of Friday's mass murder in Aurora. The calm won't last long. Both major presidential campaigns plan to resume ads this weekend.

DENVER - In the crowded newsroom at 9NEWS (KUSA-TV), my colleagues and I watched in in frustration. We were selected by the judge to provide live video to all television outlets on the planet of the first court appearance for the suspect accused of killing 12 people in a crowded Aurora, Colo. movie theater. It was not going well. I could sense the expletives being hurled at us from every control room and newsroom across the face of the globe. A few minutes in to the court hearing, the video and audio froze-- a little bit at first-- and then so much you couldn't make sense of what was happening.

COLORADO SPRINGS- Gov. Mitt Romney, the frontrunner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination is holding an event in Colorado Springs at a company called Springs Fabrication, Inc. The company was awarded $2.3 million in federal stimulus funds, according to these records from recovery.gov, the official website for tracking Recovery Act spending. Romney has publicly stated his opposition to the Recovery Act.

This is my first time covering the Iowa caucuses in person, and it's been a pretty incredible experience so far. Here's what it looks like from where I stand for TV live shots. For now, we're all reading the tea leaves and trying to keep up with what candidates are saying during the final push. The caucuses begin at 7pm Iowa time and we should have first results an hour and a half after that. Behind the scenes, Iowa has an other-worldly feel to it at the moment. For one, there's no escaping the campaign ads here. Candidates and PACs have covered the airwaves with their messages, trying to win over caucus-goers.