For the second straight presidential election, Colorado swung to the Democratic Party, joining a handful of battleground states to propel President Barack Obama into the White House for a second straight term.

Tuesday's general election will be remembered for being close, with Obama topping his Republican rival Mitt Romney by less than a million votes out of 108 million cast.

The 2012 presidential race in Colorado was 52-48, much closer than Obama's 54-45 victory over John McCain in 2008.

Obama made 13 campaign trips to this western battleground state, the most by any president in history, and relied on a coalition of immigrants, young voters and college-educated women to secure his victory.

"The frequent trips here made it clear that he cared deeply about the people of Colorado, and they responded," said an ebullient Matt Inzeo, Colorado Democratic Party communications director.

Pundits credited the president's national victory to "Demographics," particularly prevalent in Colorado, where he ran extremely strongly in the heavily Latino communities around Denver. Colorado's population is now 21 percent Latino.

As predicted in another historic development, Colorado became the first U.S. state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana by a 53-47 vote.

"The people have spoken loud and clear," said Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who had opposed the measure, saying he didn't want Colorado identified with the drug.

Hickenlooper said he now expected to work with the federal government who still classifies marijuana as an illegal narcotic, and would protect young people in possession of the drug.

"Federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug so don't break out the Cheetos or gold fish too quickly," he said.

Washington became the second state in the country to legalize the use of marijuana by adults in a ballot referendum also on Tuesday. Oregon voters rejected a similar amendment to legalize the drug.

Washington Initiative 502 will legalize and regulate the production, possession and distribution of cannabis and marijuana for persons aged above 21, and tax it three times before a user takes it home. Tax revenue estimates for the Washington measure run as high as 500 million U.S.dollars, a figure analysts say is overstated.