Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. As we keep our eyes on the prize, and by that I mean the price of gasoline four dollars and fifty five cents today nationally, the price on this twenty second of May. Yes, that means we're about to do the big driving holiday this weekend. Right, And as I read here, you know they do these these studies every time we get to the Memorial Day or fourth of July Thanksgiving. How many people are going
to go out on the roads. I don't know where they come up with these numbers, but forty five million Americans were told and estimated forty five million will travel at least fifty miles over the holiday weekend, up from forty four point eight million in twenty twenty five, just under forty three million in twenty nineteen. Gas Buddy says, for the average American, they're going to be paying well
over a dollar more than they were a year ago. Right, we're about four and a half dollars, as I mentioned, that's up from three dollars and fourteen cents last year. If you're keeping score and playing along on your home game, and knowing that Republicans are very busy trying to redraw maps across the country, and Democrats are try and like heck to keep up with them. There's a thought that you've heard on this program before that the fundamentals in
this race will outweigh the technicals. Broadly speaking, in the midterms, the issue of affordability, energy prices, a war that is not popular with the American people, not to mention the attempt at reforming ICE, and all the rest will come together in a wave election that will leave the congressional maps irrelevant when it comes to the final score. We've got six months to figure that out. And I was delighted to hear today that Ram Emmanuel was going to
join us. I don't know how we put the titles in correct order here. I will always think of him as President Obama's chief of staff, but you might think of him as the mayor of Chicago or maybe the ambassador to Japan. Either way, he's with us right now and the state of the Democratic Party, Rob e Manuel, I understand you can't turn your camera on. Welcome back to Bloomberg. It's great to see you, and I'm wondering your thoughts on this now that we've got this autopsy
in hand. Do you have the message that outweighs the maps.
Yeah, So you asked two questions. One is, look, I've seen more throw reports autopsies from a local coroner's office than that. And you knew more about what happened in twenty twenty four before that autopsy was issued. And everybody acts like this is complicated. But I want to be straightforward about this. Having worked on President Clinton, President Obamas both election re election and taking back the House and
making Nancy Pelosi Speaker, which is we're minority party. You want to win, you got to find common cause with independent voters. Second, in the last three presidentials, seven states, five hundred thousand voters have decided who's president of the United States. They're all swing states. So you can't win based on Democratic votes. You gotta find common cause with independence. Three. That is true for Senate candidates, and it's true for
House candidates. You're going to win or turn a red district to a blue district or a red state to a blue state senator. You're going to have to win in places Democrats aren't just talking to democrats. That's it. That's the combination of lock and they both buy candidate message and capacity find the common ground that builds a broad based majority coalition with independent voters and getting caught
in what I call the cultural wars. Where we decided to have cultural wars into our schools, we lost and our kids paid the price for it. Don't worry about bathroom access. Start worrying about classroom excellists. You'll find out that's where parents are. Stop talking about defunding police and start talking about better policing. That's where the residents of all major cities and counties and communities are. Stop worrying and debating with your college faculty lounge on whether the
term latinix applies nobody cares. Start talking about what matters to people that their kids get a college education. I have thirty thousand dollarsand dead are living now in the basement, and you're not having your best years and they're not having their best years. Your healthcare you spend. Your doctor says X and your insurance company says X minus. Come on, that's where the world is today. Have focus on it. It's not that hard.
It's the unapologetic progressivism democratic socialism of Zoron Mamdani. Challenge that view, though, what happens if Democrats go full liberal or is liberalism dead?
Joe? I mean, let me just say this. The same day that this autopsy came out, which again I wouldn't need to use for cat litter, and I don't have a cat. The New York Times have wrote had a poll of just Democratic primary voters. They told you what the Manhattan is, the two poles set of twenty five hundred primary Democrats, and what the third way? Fifteen hundred Democratic polls in one all three fifty percent of the voters in the primary self describe or want a more moderate,
pragmatic nic which helps you get independent. Only twenty five percent, that is less than two to one, want us to go quote unquote left. They want us to be quiet and be more mainstream on immigration, on crime, on transissue, and what I call the cultural landscape where we made ourselves look like a caricature of a stereotype of ourselves. That so, when you say to me, and I always say this to everybody that covers the lad left, the
fact is in politics, sound is not always fury. Do I believe that there's more sound in and around the cultural left and the quote unquote progressives, Yes, but look at what primary voters are telling you about themselves. Now, I will tell you historically, in the party, when we are out of power, you know what the number one geological check that people care about. It's not left or center, it's winning. Winning, that's our primary.
I want to have this conversation with you in an opportunity where we can see each other and spend some time. Manual, thank you for joining. That's all right, We're going to figure it out because I'll come find you. We'll do what we have to do. I want to get to the bottom of this and spend some time with Ram and Manuel here are on balance and power. Thank you for chiming in.