Transcript
A (0:00)
What will it take to win the midterms for the Democrats? What is their best strategy sense? What are the people who are making the decisions relying on? These are all really interesting questions, no matter what side you're on or whether you're just an independent. And I have answers for you. For someone who is every bit of in the game, I am Chris Cuomo. Welcome to the Chris Cuomo Project. Chuck Rocha, he is part of the elite of the elite. What does that mean? He is one of a handful of political scientists, operatives, analysts, strategists, who is hired and has been for years to run the campaigns that you and I watch and in my case, cover. He also has a podcast called the Chuck Rocha Revolution. And he's got a deal with CBS News. He's on msnbc, he's on cnn, he's on News Nation. He's all over the why. He's a different kind of Democrat. You want to see why and understand why. He gets paid to tell people what he knows. Here you go. Chuck Rocha, the Rocha Revolution. Man, it is good to see you. Thank you for being with me.
B (1:18)
Good to be with you, brother.
A (1:20)
So I've always been fascinated by you because you remind me of the kinds of Democrats that there were when I grew up in the party. But when I look at you now, not just the hat, not just the East Texas accent, but do you ever feel like, is the party still your home or are they trying to recruit different kinds of people now?
B (1:45)
Every day. And it's not the recruitment. I am in a really small sliver of the party which are the operatives that actually run all the races. So think about this, Chris, you're a political animal. That there is a small finite group of people who actually have the power to run the campaigns. And for those of you listening, make the tv, make the digital, come up with a strategy, figure out the polling questions. Well, that group of people are even more elite than the candidates. We recruit lots of working class candidates who are great people to run. A lot of times if they can raise money, they can be competitive. A little underbelly here. Side note, the only reason Bernie Sanders became Bernie Sanders is because he actually could raise enough money to go out and tell enough people. And that's how it all happened. It was the phenomenon of this small money don't. Cause he never got any money from anybody. But when you think about the people who run campaigns, I'm even in a smaller minority because my mom and daddy didn't come from any money. I never went to college. I talk like this. I actually talk a lot of shit. So there's a whole lot of people in my party who don't like me, but they also know that I've been very effective in what we're doing, so I'll become more acceptable over time. And I'm trying to drag the party back to the reason I actually joined the party. I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my mama. My mama was just 15 years old when I was born. She likes to say she had two kids and was divorced or wasn't old enough to get in nightclub. I remember I was like 17, and we were having dinner and the stuff about Ford getting appointed was on the news. And back when I was a young man, I'm 57, there was only three channels. And I remember asking mama, I said, mama, are we Democrats or Republicans? And she said, well, we've all lived through the Great Depression over here, and we are stalwart Democrats, but we all hope that we can make enough money one day to become a Republican.
