The candidates scaled back or canceled events Friday. They shared a common concern and sadness for what happened in Colorado. It also brought them together in their expressions of condolences to the victims and their families.
A somber President Obama was in Florida Friday. In the wake of the Colorado killings, he said there would be other days for politics as he offered his condolences to the victims of the massacre.
"Life is very fragile. Our time here is limited and it is precious, and what matters at the end of the day is not the small things, it's not the trivial things, which so often consume us and our daily lives," said Obama. "Ultimately it's how we choose to treat one another and how we love one another."
The president asked for everyone to bow their heads for a moment of silence.
The president cancelled a second Florida appearance and returned to Washington.
Mitt Romney expressed the same somber sentiments as he campaigned in Bow, New Hampshire. Romney also kept it brief as he offered condolences to the victims and families connected to what he called "a few moments of evil" in Colorado.
"I stand before today you not as a man running for office, but as a father and grandfather, a husband, an American," said Romney. "This is a time for each of us to look into our hearts and remember how much we love one another, and how much we love and how much we care for our great country."
Romney and the president both suspended campaigning. They took their televised campaign ads off the air in Colorado. Political events around the country were canceled or postponed, including events by first lady Michelle Obama and Romney's wife, Ann.
