Taos delegate ready for Democratic Convention

Thomas “Chuby” Tafoya, chairman of the Taos County Democratic Party, is going to the Democratic National Convention as a delegate pledged to Sen. Hillary Clinton — and ready to get a Democrat in the White House.

“I’m excited to be going. It’s a great chance to network and see how other states are working to get the vote out,” said Tafoya. “I want to get a sense about how people around the country are thinking,” he said.

During the 2004 presidential campaign, Democrats in Taos County — where nearly 70 percent of voters are registered Democrats — believed Sen. John Kerry would win, Tafoya said.

“Maybe there was more we could have done in other parts of the state,” he added.

Tafoya was elected a pledged candidate for Sen. Clinton in the party’s district convention and he believes Clinton delegates should be allowed to cast their vote on the first ballot for her at the convention.

“She should have her delegates counted,” he said. “For a woman to get that far is impressive.”

Tafoya said he has had calls from reporters in other states asking if the Clinton campaign is mounting a campaign to challenge Sen. Barack Obama for the nomination.

“I haven’t had any calls from the Clinton campaign about it, I don’t see anything wrong with it (voting on the first ballot),” he said. Although casting votes for candidates other than the presumed nominee is not unusual, it appears Clinton’s name will be entered for nomination at the convention.

“Senator Clinton had more than 18 million votes cast for her, but Senator Obama was only a few 100,000 votes behind her,” Tafoya said. “If we can get all those people to the polls in November voting for Obama, we will win,” he said. “It’s very important that the Democrats win this time around,” he said. “There is too much riding on it.”

Getting voters to the polls for the general election is the most important thing the Democratic Party can do, he said.

“It’s not enough to register voters, we need to get them to the polls,” he said. “I think its going to be a lot closer than we would like.” Tafoya said he saw Clinton Sunday (Aug. 17) when she campaigned for Obama in Española. “She asked her supporters to get behind Senator Obama,” he said. “I was able to go back stage and meet her. I got a handshake and a hug. It was great,” Tafoya said. “I also went to the rally in Albuquerque with Senator Obama on Monday (Aug. 18). I had my son with me and I shook his hand and got a hug from him,” he said.