Battling for votes: Small businesses weigh choices

(CNN) -- Even before the current economic crisis, voters listed the economy as the top issue in the presidential election.

In a CNN.com special report, Battleground Voters, we talked to voters in five battleground states -- Colorado, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio -- to find out how the economy would influence their choice for president.

In the first of four parts, we talked to small-business owners, who have been at the center of John McCain's and Barack Obama's plans on how they would get the ailing economy back on track.

BOULDER, Colorado: 'Is it worth hanging in'

Susan Melching calls enduring current economic conditions "a very frightening experience."

Small-business owner Susan Melching is frightened by the country's economic future.

Melching said this is the first time in 26 years that she is worried her company won't survive.

"This is the first year that I have actually really felt on the verge of 'is it worth hanging in for it?' And it's a very frightening experience. First time ever," she said.

Her company, Susan Melching Inc., provides skin care treatments. Businesses that focus on beauty and luxury goods are usually hit especially hard during economic troubles.

The 53-year-old said she's had to downsize her business by cutting jobs -- from five full-time staff members down to a couple of part-time workers and herself. It's because, she said, customers are simply not coming in as often or at all.

"I'm pretty much relying on myself to get through this," she added. "Everything that I do is focused on keeping the business going. There's not much left for me."

Melching said she'd like the next president to focus on economic policies helping small businesses in small communities -- "financial support in those areas that would in turn benefit the whole country," she said. See how the economy figures into to the politics of business owners »