Obama and Romney fight for suburban women in Colo.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. – If President Barack Obama wins swing-voting Colorado, and a second term as president, voters like Paula Burky will probably be the reason.

Burky, who has decided to vote for Obama, says, in her words, "He understands women."

Both Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, see women — specifically suburbanites from their 30s to their 50s — as critical to victory in Colorado as well as in other hard-fought places like Virginia and Nevada.

The state of the campaign in the sprawling Denver region illustrates how the fight is playing out across the nation, and how the candidates are seeking to woo these female voters in different ways.

Romney is decrying Obama's handling of the sluggish economy. Obama warns women could lose abortion rights with a Republican president.