President Barack Obama on Thursday endorsed state ballot initiatives to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington state, Maryland and Maine, Reuters reports. Statements issued by the Obama campaign in those three states urging voters to approve the gay-marriage measures on their respective November 6 ballots came five months after Obama became the first U.S. president to express support for gay marriage. With various polls showing Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney in a virtual dead heat, both candidates are doing the utmost to motivate the turnout of their core constituencies on Election Day. For Obama, the gay and lesbian community is seen as a loyal and potentially pivotal voting bloc, along with larger demographic groups such as Hispanics and young single women.
