On Tuesday, Colorado and Minnesota will hold their Republican caucuses, either confirming or casting doubt onto Mitt Romney's lead. But why some states hold caucuses instead of primaries — or in the case of Missouri, use both — in order to determine how many delegates they'll send to a party's national convention is largely a matter of taste.

What is the Tim Tebow effect? The new Denver Broncos quarterback has garnered a lot of national attention, partly for his talent, partly for his prayerful play. But is the attention — or the critiques, which are growing after Tebow failed to lead Denver to a win over Detroit Sunday — fully warranted? We find out, and get a general NFL update from Takeaway sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin. 

President Obama journeyed to Denver, Colorado on Tuesday, three years after he visited the city to accept his party’s nomination for the White House, and spoke at the 80,000-seat football stadium to excited supporters. This time, the president was in Denver to drum up support for his $450 billion jobs plan. Obama hopes Congress will pass the bill and create jobs for the millions of Americans out of work.

The bitter debt debate may be over on Capitol Hill, but average Americans are having trouble getting the taste out of their mouths. According to the Pew research group, a growing number of Americans are disgusted with both parties, and are choosing to affiliate with neither. Independents have played a determining role in the last three national elections. 

NASA has recently agreed to partner up with the Colorado Association for Manufacturing on an effort they hope will accomplish two goals: speed up the commercial rollout of space technologies, and, more importantly in this down economy, create jobs. The two groups hope to create 10,000 jobs in Colorado over the next five years because of this agreement. As a benefit, the partnership should allow more rapid prototyping, meaning new technology products could hit the market much sooner than before — 18 months, say, instead of five years.

In 2008, the Obama wave swept across the country, bringing Democrats to districts that had been Republican strongholds for decades. Democrats acquired a 75 vote majority in the House of Representatives; they currently hold the majority of Representatives' seats in 33 states, compared to Republicans' 16 states.

This year, the electoral tide is shifting and all signs point to Republicans taking back the House during today's election. The first districts likely to go Republican will be those former stronghold "swing seats," such as Ohio's 6th and 18th Districts and Colorado's 3rd, 4th, and 7th Districts.

Both Republicans and Democrats are keeping a close eye on Colorado's congressional races. As election day nears, the two Senate candidates, Republican Ken Buck and incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet, are polling dead even. The race is one of the closest in the country.

Here, where the prairie begins, Democratic hopes are wilting.  This is the land of big trucks, cattle farms, natural gas drills – and a few universities. It’s also where an increasingly educated population is settling, coming for the tech industry and access to the Rocky Mountains. This was supposed to change the entire political landscape. Back in 2008, an excellent New Yorker article described what it called Colorado’s “political transformation,” – from red-state Republican to libertarian Democrat. The state had voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004, and Bob Dole in 1996.

But in 2008 then-Senator Barack Obama gave his speech accepting the Democratic nomination from the mile-high stadium, the late-summer sun glowing late into the evening over the Rockies. With the help of all those young, professional independents, Democrats from Denver, and an energized Latino population, he won the state 51 to 47. In the fourth CD, Betsy Markey, an appealing businesswoman, trounced her Republican opponent by a 12-point margin, 56 to 44.

Celeste Headlee is in Colorado today, a state where Democrats are struggling to keep their majority in Congress. Among the contested seats is the one belonging to Representative Besty Markey, of Colorado's fourth Congressional district. She's facing an uphill battle against her Republican challenger Cory Gardner, who is trouncing her in the latest polls. 

Representative Markey joins the program to talk about her reelection campaign. Takeaway correspondent Andrea Bernstein also gives us a feel of the political landscape in Colorado right now.

Takeaway Correspondent Andrea Bernstein is traveling the country, checking in with voters. Today, she's in Colorado, a key swing state in this mid-term election season. Up for grabs is a governor's race, a Senate race and key Congressional races. There are also two ballot propositions getting a lot of attention: one regarding abortion rights, the other attempting to block enactment of federal health care reform. Key issues for constituents are health care, abortion and immigration.

Bernstein has spoken with voters in Weld County and Jefferson County and found that voters from both parties are still unsure how they will cast their ballots this November.

Co-host Celeste Headlee is broadcasting from member station KUVO in Denver, Colorado today and tomorrow, and in southern Colorado, there’s a story that’s been brewing up a storm of opposition. The controversy starts with the work of two well-known artists: Jeanne-Claude and Christo. The pair are most famous for draping fabric over public monuments and natural landscapes, like the famous Gates Project in New York’s Central Park. Jeanne-Claude passed away this past November. Her longtime husband and collaborator is working to finish some of their last projects.  The Over the River Project is one of them.

Voters in Colorado and Connecticut head to the polls today to vote in primary elections. In Colorado, incumbent Democratic Senator Michael Bennet, who was endorsed by President Obama, is facing a surprisingly hard primary battle. A loss could bring insight into how voters feel about Washington and President Obama. Kirk Johnson, Denver bureau chief for The New York Times, joins us with the latest from the Centennial State.

It may seem like a distant memory, but back in 2008, the story of the Democratic presidential primary was the rise of a relative newcomer to Washington taking on the party establishment with grassroots organizing. It was a winning strategy for then-candidate Barack Obama in Colorado, where he earned more than two-thirds of the primary votes and defeated Hillary Clinton. 

In Colorado’s Democratic Senate primary this year, there’s another candidate campaigning as an outsider, but the establishment narrative is flipped. This time, the political newcomer is the incumbent, and the challenger is a mainstay of Colorado politics.

Last week, a California serial killer was caught after his son was convicted of a felony weapons charge. A DNA lab was able to discover a genetic link between the son's DNA and evidence from old crime scenes, which led them to investigate Lonnie D. Franklin, Jr.  Franklin has allegedly killed at least 10 people in California over the last 25 years. The police made the connection through the state’s familial search program, which allows police to take DNA from a crime scene and compare it to millions of DNA samples in a database. If there is even a partial match, police can get leads to the criminal by way of a family member.

The search has also raised ethical questions. Critics say it could lead to a form of racial profiling, because a higher proporation of inmates are African American, and linking their DNA to their family members could wrongly lead to suspicions of others in the black community.

Colorado is the first state where the medical marijuana business is fully regulated, licensed and taxed. Unlike California where medical marijuana dispensary owners work in nonprofit collectives, Colorado allows cannabis business owners to profit as much as possible from their sales. Colorado legalized medical marijuana in 2000, and more than 80,000 people in the state now hold medical marijuana certificates, according to The New York Times. However, tight rules and restrictions have made it hard for these businesses to thrive.

After passing State Senate Bill 191 at 12:00 am this morning, Colorado is at the heart of a national debate on teacher performance. The bill removes some job protections for tenured faculty, and aims to increase student performance. It was an emotional fight, with teachers facing the possibility of losing job security. 

John Hockenberry sat down with Colorado Attorney General John Suthers earlier this week, and part of their conversation we're bringing to you here online.  John asked Suthers about the growing numbers of medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado, the voters' initiatives that Suthers says are being badly stretched to allow this many dispensaries, and his desire to have Colorado voters explicitly vote on what he calls "back door legalization."

Activists seem to be gaining ground in their fight to normalize pot use in the U.S.: Fourteen states have legalized medical marijuana to some extent, and fourteen others have marijuana-related proposals in the works. 

Colorado Springs, Colo., has been hit hard by the economic downturn. After public demands for no more tax increases, the city has taken some drastic measures to curb its financial bleeding. City government decided to cut services that many would consider basic: many street lights will be shut off, fire and policemen will be let go, parks will go unmowed and unwatered, and some museums and pools will close.

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter recently announced he won't run for reelection in 2010, leaving wide speculation about who will succeed him. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper was in the midst of recording an interview with The Takeaway Wednesday afternoon when Ritter called Hickenlooper to talk about what the job entails.  Hickenlooper took the call, called us back, and strongly implied that he's considering running for governor.