When Americans talk about “Obamacare,” it’s personal for Katherine Archuleta, the Coloradan tapped to serve as political director for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.
Her daughter, Graciela Gonzales, was diagnosed in 1999 with ovarian cancer. Gonzales, who attends Brown University, will turn 23 next month.
Because of Obama’s Affordable Care Act, she can stay on her parents’ insurance until she turns 26. And starting in 2014, Gonzales can’t be denied insurance because of a pre-existing condition.
“She is the single most important reason I am doing what I am doing,” Archuleta said. “My story is not an unusual story. People come to this campaign for personal reasons.”
Archuleta talked about the re- election effort during an interview at Obama’s Colorado campaign headquarters a few blocks south of the state Capitol while the president was addressing thousands of college students at the Auraria Events Center last week.
In one breath, she stressed the need to deal with the deficit. In the next, she said the campaign will be telling voters how the administration has put more money into Pell Grants for students and Head Start programs for children.
Archuleta is the first Latina to serve as a presidential political director. She’s at campaign headquarters in Chicago half the time and on the road the rest.
As the face of the campaign, she’s in charge of its relationships with elected officials, party officials, labor and key constituency and opinion leaders.
Archuleta has worked for former Denver Mayors Federico Peña and John Hickenlooper, and served as Denver’s lead planner for the Democratic National Convention in 2008.
“Katherine is an enormously able person who in every undertaking I’ve seen has had success,” said Denver political analyst Eric Sondermann. “That said, this is of a different dimension, and she has her work cut out for her.”
Archuleta quoted from the president’s speech Tuesday night at a fundraiser at the Pepsi Center when asked how Obama wins back voters who supported him in 2008.
“The president said the election is about us, it’s not about him — sort of, ‘Where do we want this country to go and what do we want it be?’ ” she said.
Archuleta said she believes Colorado’s Democrats and unaffiliated voters share “the same wishes” — to have access to the American dream, education for their children and good health care.
“I don’t see the difference between independents and Democrats on that. There clearly is a different choice between those issues and Republicans,” she said. “I think we have a really, really good message. I think as a Republican candidate emerges, that will be much clearer. Right now, we don’t have a candidate to compare ourselves to.”
Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327 or lbartels@denverpost.com
