The voters who live in the Denver-area community where dozens of people were shot in a movie theater are at the center of the presidential contest and struggle for control of the House.

But today, there is no appetite for campaigning — even among the most committed political operatives, and sources say that there has been a mad scramble to pull down any form of political advertising.

“Everything is on hold here,” state Democratic Party spokesman Matt Inzeo said. “It’s a bad day.”

“There’s a time for politics and this is not it,” added Owen Loftus, a campaign spokesman for Rep. Mike Coffman (R). Loftus said that the Congressman has suspended all campaign activities.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D) currently represents Aurora, the community where the early morning shootings occurred. After redistricting, though, Aurora was drawn out of the 7th district and is now situated in the new 6th district. It features among this election cycle’s more competitive House races, with Coffman looking to hold off state Rep. Joe Miklosi (D).

Roll Call rates this race Tossup.

Correction: July 20, 2012

An earlier version of the post misstated Rep. Ed Perlmutter’s first name.