De La Fuente at the Lesser-Known Candidates Forum, January 2016. Businessman  took some time to speak with Wikinews about his campaign for the U.S. Democratic Party's 2016 presidential nomination. The 61-year-old De La Fuente resides in  , California, grew up in , and owns multiple businesses and properties throughout the world. Since getting his start in the automobile industry, De La Fuente has branched out into the banking and real estate markets. Despite not having held or sought political office previously, he has been involved in politics, serving as the first-ever to the . De La Fuente entered the 2016 presidential race last October largely due to his dissatisfaction with  front-runner Donald Trump. He argues he is a more accomplished businessman than Trump, and attacks Trump as "a clown," "a joke," "dangerous," and "in the same category as Hitler." Nevertheless, De La Fuente's business background begets comparisons with Trump. The Alaskan Midnight Sun blog described him as the Democrats' "own Donald Trump." While receiving only minimal media coverage, he has campaigned actively, and according to the latest  filing, loaned almost 4 million of his own money to the campaign. He has qualified for 48 ballots, but has not yet obtained any delegates to the . Thus far, according to the count at The Green Papers, De La Fuente has received 35,406 votes, or 0.23\% of the total votes cast. He leads among the many lesser-known candidates but trails both Senator Bernie Sanders who has received nearly 6.5 million votes and front-runner Hillary Clinton who has just shy of 9 million votes. Then, I sold 27 of my dealerships and began a new career investing in real estate. I developed the De La Fuente Business Park and began acquiring [...] other properties in San Diego, , San Francisco, Los Angeles, , , , , , , , , and as well as in  , Ohio, , New York, , Connecticut, and , Florida. In addition, I purchased and own residential complexes in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Texas and Virginia and have developed assisted living facilities in Los Angeles (San Pedro) and Lemon Grove, California, to care for seniors who are in need. De La Fuente: I am disappointed by the treatment I have received such as being denied the courtesy of automatic ballot access that's afforded "politically privileged" candidate[s], having votes mysteriously disappear from election results, having State Parties in caucus states withhold location information, list me as "Other" and refuse to provide areas for my preference groups to form, etc. However, I am not disappointed by the results under those circumstances. De La Fuente examines his notes during the Lesser-Known Candidates Forum. Despite this type of treatment, I have successfully qualified to participate in the primaries and caucuses in a combination of 48 states and territories. I have also already amassed more votes than former Senator Rick Santorum, current Senator Lindsey Graham, former Governor of Virginia, former New York Governor George Pataki and Louisiana Governor combined. After , I passed Carly Fiorina's vote total and I'm rapidly closing in on former Governor Mike Huckabee's, current Governor  's and current Senator 's vote totals. While those candidates have suspended their campaigns, an independent  article recently noted my performance as somewhat of a phenomenon given that my campaign is predominantly self-funded and enjoys absolutely zero Party support or money. Conversely, these candidates all received massive support from the Republican Party in terms of the visibility and support they were given. Most also have benefited from the monetary support of conservative Super PACs. In 2012, several primary challengers to President Barack Obama including , , and all qualified for delegates, though they ultimately were not seated at the convention due to technicalities. Given the money you are willing to spend on a campaign and your ability to adhere to the rules, do you regret not running in 2012? De La Fuente quotes Einstein: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." De La Fuente: I found that it isn't a good use of time to second guess a decision you can't change. Did unconventional candidates win delegates in 2012? Yes. That should tell you that the Party changed the rules to prevent that from happening again. That's the real story; not whether I wish I'd run in 2012. In all honesty, I didn't have any motivation to run in 2012. I only decided to jump into this race late last year because Donald Trump was vilifying entire classes of people and no one seemed willing to confront him. Had there been a Kennedy or even a  in the race, I wouldn't have taken this step. I ran because I didn't see anyone in the presidential race who wasn't also part of the problem. De La Fuente: I think President Obama is an honorable man who has done the best he could. He took over under difficult economic circumstances, but found a way to help stabilize and reverse the recession. He made significant progress in healthcare and education even in the face of Congressional resistance. I also think his recent steps to normalize relations with  are a step in the right direction.
De La Fuente at the Lesser-Known Candidates Forum, January 2016. Businessman Rocky De La Fuente took some time to speak with Wikinews about his campaign for the U.S. Democratic Party's 2016 presidential nomination. The 61-year-old De La Fuente resides in San Diego , California, grew up in , and owns multiple businesses and properties throughout the world. Since getting his start in the automobile industry, De La Fuente has branched out into the banking and real estate markets. Despite not having held or sought political office previously, he has been involved in politics, serving as the first-ever to the . De La Fuente entered the 2016 presidential race last October largely due to his dissatisfaction with Republican front-runner Donald Trump. He argues he is a more accomplished businessman than Trump, and attacks Trump as "a clown," "a joke," "dangerous," and "in the same category as Hitler." Nevertheless, De La Fuente's business background begets comparisons with Trump. The Alaskan Midnight Sun blog described him as the Democrats' "own Donald Trump." While receiving only minimal media coverage, he has campaigned actively, and according to the latest Federal Election Commission filing, loaned almost 4 million of his own money to the campaign. He has qualified for 48 ballots, but has not yet obtained any delegates to the . Thus far, according to the count at The Green Papers, De La Fuente has received 35,406 votes, or 0.23\% of the total votes cast. He leads among the many lesser-known candidates but trails both Senator Bernie Sanders who has received nearly 6.5 million votes and front-runner Hillary Clinton who has just shy of 9 million votes. Then, I sold 27 of my dealerships and began a new career investing in real estate. I developed the De La Fuente Business Park and began acquiring [...] other properties in San Diego, , San Francisco, Los Angeles, , , , , , , , , and as well as in Cincinnati , Ohio, , New York, , Connecticut, and , Florida. In addition, I purchased and own residential complexes in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Texas and Virginia and have developed assisted living facilities in Los Angeles (San Pedro) and Lemon Grove, California, to care for seniors who are in need. De La Fuente: I am disappointed by the treatment I have received such as being denied the courtesy of automatic ballot access that's afforded "politically privileged" candidate[s], having votes mysteriously disappear from election results, having State Parties in caucus states withhold location information, list me as "Other" and refuse to provide areas for my preference groups to form, etc. However, I am not disappointed by the results under those circumstances. De La Fuente examines his notes during the Lesser-Known Candidates Forum. Despite this type of treatment, I have successfully qualified to participate in the primaries and caucuses in a combination of 48 states and territories. I have also already amassed more votes than former Senator Rick Santorum, current Senator Lindsey Graham, former Governor of Virginia, former New York Governor George Pataki and Louisiana Governor combined. After , I passed Carly Fiorina's vote total and I'm rapidly closing in on former Governor Mike Huckabee's, current Governor Chris Christie 's and current Senator 's vote totals. While those candidates have suspended their campaigns, an independent NPR article recently noted my performance as somewhat of a phenomenon given that my campaign is predominantly self-funded and enjoys absolutely zero Party support or money. Conversely, these candidates all received massive support from the Republican Party in terms of the visibility and support they were given. Most also have benefited from the monetary support of conservative Super PACs. In 2012, several primary challengers to President Barack Obama including John Wolfe, Jr., Randall Terry, and all qualified for delegates, though they ultimately were not seated at the convention due to technicalities. Given the money you are willing to spend on a campaign and your ability to adhere to the rules, do you regret not running in 2012? De La Fuente quotes Einstein: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." De La Fuente: I found that it isn't a good use of time to second guess a decision you can't change. Did unconventional candidates win delegates in 2012? Yes. That should tell you that the Party changed the rules to prevent that from happening again. That's the real story; not whether I wish I'd run in 2012. In all honesty, I didn't have any motivation to run in 2012. I only decided to jump into this race late last year because Donald Trump was vilifying entire classes of people and no one seemed willing to confront him. Had there been a Kennedy or even a Reagan in the race, I wouldn't have taken this step. I ran because I didn't see anyone in the presidential race who wasn't also part of the problem. De La Fuente: I think President Obama is an honorable man who has done the best he could. He took over under difficult economic circumstances, but found a way to help stabilize and reverse the recession. He made significant progress in healthcare and education even in the face of Congressional resistance. I also think his recent steps to normalize relations with Cuba are a step in the right direction.
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Rocky De La Fuente
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San Diego
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Republican
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Federal Election Commission
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Cincinnati
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Chris Christie
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NPR
R
, ,
John Wolfe, Jr., Randall Terry,
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Reagan
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Cuba