john: this actually is tiddlywinks that we are playing. >> on our menu tonight, the democratic party platter. first, family style. in our new iowa poll we asked republicans, would it be a good idea if george bush advised jeb if he became president? the survey says, mostly pretty

good. in a national poll conducted by cnn, more than half the respondents said that they would be less likely to vote for jeb because of his relationship with w. and h.w. jeb was asked again about all of this on foxnews. >> i will ask my brother, my sister, every person and relative that i can. a campaign that is winning is inclusive. i love my brother. that is a shock for people. >> if you look at our poll, what is jeb bush's real problem? >> there are two problems. there are things that george w. bush did that were not very popular, launching the iraqi war.

the second is that there are a lot of people in the republican party that think that being a bush will be an insurmountable problem in a general election because of the first problem. mark: he needs answers on every aspect of his rather's -- brother's administration. the prescription drug benefit, katrina. i think the other thing that his campaign is adding on is that he needs to talk about himself. he is always going to be thought of as a bush. he can get some separation if people think about his florida record. there are way too many people that have never met him and do not have an image of him. john: the iowa poll says that he has the highest unfavorables of everybody except for donald trump.

perceptions are set on the basis mainly of his brother, not of him. people do not know about his record in florida. that creates an opportunity for him. people think of him as just another bush. in our bloomberg politics iowa poll, we asked hawkeye state democrats if bill clinton advised hillary clinton if she were president if that would be good. that is mostly good. president obama's disapproval rating is higher than his approval rating. who is the potential bigger problem for hillary, bill or barack? mark: if there is unrest around the world and president obama's approval rating is lowered, that is a particular problem. her husband is going to be a positive with a lot of voters. that is a big if.

if you look at history, she is in a much better place if president obama's approval rating is 50 and above. john: it makes it even harder if the incumbent of your own party is below 50%. political science says that there is no doubt that barack obama is a bigger problem. there is the scandal problem of bill clinton. they are a unique variable that nobody has had to deal with. they can both be the potential problems in different ways. mark: in the end, if you had to bet on one or another, gore won the popular vote after eight years of clinton. george h.w. bush won. if the world is a mess, and she cannot convince people how she would do things differently or better, i am not predicting that

outcome, that is more resonant. one poll, but pretty incredible. john: she could spend a lot of time being distracted by things coming out of the foundation. if barack obama is over 50%, the world economy is growing. she is not a shoe in, but almost a prohibitive favorite. mark: that plus the electoral college. everybody can run for president in america. that is being put to the test for rhode island. their former governor has not gotten much coverage on the day of his presidential announcement. the local tv station found some room in their budget to squeeze him and. it was not always their top story. >> the highway looks good this morning. frank? >> some of the day's other top news stories. this is the day that former rhode island governor chafee is running for president.

>> fortunately, there were no serious injuries. >> lincoln chafee is expected to announce his candidacy for president. >> lawmakers have been meeting behind closed doors for the stadium proposal which had been rejected. it is expected to get judicial approval sometime this month. >> lincoln chafee is expected to make the announcement at george mason university just outside of washington. mark: lincoln chafee is so obscure that half the people in our newsroom were spelling his name wrong. we have asked this question about a lot of people. can lincoln chafee as an extreme underdog impact the fight for the democratic nomination? john: i love any piece of video that includes the word pawsox

and the fact that they were a bigger story than lincoln chafee. he is not a real factor in terms of being really competitive. he has no organization around the country. he is running to make two points. he wants to talk about foreign policy. he wants to talk about hillary clinton, her iraq war vote and if she can be trusted. he will get some attention for clinton criticism. he will be part of a chorus with bernie sanders and martin o'malley. mark: how well does that harmonize. if they look like they are ganging up on her, they are relentlessly negative, i think he will not be a factor. if he opens up another front on this iraq thing, which o'malley and sanders have not been

stressing as much, it could play with her head a little bit. this could allow o'malley and sanders or someone else to come in. john: she is perfectly happy co-opting the domestic issues on her left. the standard voters, the o'malley voters. foreign policy is a bigger problem. she wants to maintain her position for the general election. the financial chairman of the democratic committee is organizing a fundraising event for hillary clinton. if you told that to your average american, that would sound line. she is not the party's nominee, but that might be a violation of the rules. i question is whether the democratic party is playing fair

and how they are conducting their nominee fight. mark: most of the democratic apparatus, and the labor unions, like most of the democratic party, they are staffed by people who think that hillary clinton will be the nominee and want her to be the nominee. one fundraiser is not a big deal. they made the rule that not only limited to six debates, but said that you cannot be at other events if you want to be in these democratic official debates. that is to her advantage. o'malley and sanders want more debates. exclusivity has done hillary clinton a huge favor. john: that is a factor in the republican party as well. that is a different kettle of fish over there. you have more than six debates. mark: even scott walker and jeb bush are not afraid of debate.

six debates was the fewest that democrats could get away with. john: if the democratic party were committed to the most competitive system possible, and some spirit of democracy, you should want. you should say, let's have 12 debates. mark: there are other liberal groups on the left who like to host debates and they cannot. john: this is kind of outrageous thing. mark: he says that he has raised money for other people. the biggest thing is the labor unions. they say that they are open to endorsing other candidates. hillary clinton will get most of the labor vote. they should think about candidates who are more in line with their agenda. way back in february, mike huckabee, the former arkansas governor, made some comments that are now getting attention this week. the biggest story in the news, caitlin jenner.

>> i wish somebody told me that i could feel like a woman when it was time to take showers in pe. i would have said, coach, i think i want to shower with the girls today. mark: part of the reaction is the reaction to what huckabee said. >> that is not the joke that you make. >> that is among the most boneheaded things out there. >> this is one of the most asinine things that mike has that and i like mike huckabee. >> the more important point is that we should give people their dignity and make their own decisions. people often make decisions i do not agree with. in a government where it is supposed to be of the people, if somebody chooses a path that is different than mine, we should respect that instead of mocking it or in any way trying to prevent that.

mark: this has been the biggest story of the week in many quarters. is this a one-week cultural blip story or is this topic owing to be part of the debate? john: issues related to the transgender community are coming to the forefront more than ever before. this is a crystallized moment. for young people, where the discussion of gender as a plastic thing, they care about this issue. it does not present the kind of political policy issue that gay marriage does. republicans have more of a problem done with that continuing controversy. it is not a policy they have to take a position on. mark: the tone that governor pataki was -- john: commendable. mark: rand paul, jeb bush, can they strike the same tone when asked about this issue?

this will stay alive long enough. john: it will be wise if they did. if they do, this issue will go away. if they strike the tone that huckabee struck, it will be a problem. their attitude will be, this is not something you should be making snarky jokes about. a name familiar from "family guy" a marinara sauce and an institution in new jersey. ♪

mark: this presidential race is getting good. lots of drama, and plot twists. we are calling an old buddy. a politically correct character and is very thinly with the twists and turns.

his own book is called "politics and pasta.” mr. mayor, thank you for coming on the show. we are going to talk about this presidential campaign as a story. what makes them a great character? let's start with the first character, lincoln chafee, your old friend. buddy: lincoln chafee surprised everybody. he has about as much chance of getting the democratic nomination as joe finding a california condor or me becoming an astronaut. he does not have much of a chance at all. his father was a u.s. senator. when bill clinton was going through his troubles of impeachment, chafee's father voted against impeaching him.

when john chafee died, lincoln chafee became the u.s. senator appointed by the governor of the time. guess who came in and campaign against him in favor of bill sheldon? that is a little plot twisting there. chafee has never forgiven them for that. i think that chafee could have won, but for their efforts. chafee surprised everyone by saying that he was going to run for president. he got elected in a multi-person race after he lost the senator's job. he chose not to run for reelection because his poll numbers were in the 20's. now he wants to be president of the united states. unbelievable. i do not know if he has any supporters in rhode island. that is probably why he is not announcing there.

john: let me ask you about hillary clinton. what is compelling about her at this moment in time? buddy: she has seen it all, run it all, and bought the t-shirt. i met her several times. she came here when we started the city year. i gave her a jar of my marinara sauce. she will carry rhode island without any question. she has a fundraiser coming up. she carried the state with an overwhelming majority in the primary against obama. mark: talk about her personality. is she comedy, is she drama? buddy: you could write four novels about her. the wife who was cheated on, but she stood by her man.

a world traveler, embellishing some of the stuff she was involved in. getting fired on by rebels and all of that stuff. she has become a fixture. she is like an old piece of furniture you do not want to get rid of. mark: another democrat bernie sanders, would you say that he is a hero or an antihero? buddy: bernie sanders, i've never met him, but i saw him when they try to get me to join the communist party. this is a deep blue state. i do not think he will do well here at all. this is a hillary state. bernie sanders is for everything that all the people i know are not for. there are not a lot of electoral votes here. there are not a lot of delegates in the coming republican convention. rubio seems to be catching on. you would think that bush would get the traditional republicans.

rubio has a little bit of an organization going already. john: stick with those republicans. you live in rhode island. there are no republicans there. as characters, jeb bush, marco rubio, chris christie, as characters, what do you think about them? buddy: i think we have a growing latino population. rubio can make inroads there. when you look at jeb bush, he will have the traditional old waspy kind of republican there. there are still a few of those around. christie will also have something. he relates to the rough and ready kind of guy. he came and campaign for the republican governor. he has got that personality that people could catch on to. i think it will be between rubio and bush.

mark: does the fact that jeb bush has been able to raise money but not doing well in the polls nationally surprise you? buddy: you have a father and a brother who had been president that should not be too tough to raise money. that is the family business, but that does not mean he has the nomination. george w. bush said that when he announced for president, he said that he had all of his father's enemies and half of his father's friends. bush will be an outstanding money raiser on the republican side. there is no question about that. that does not mean that other candidates cannot tap into that well that is out there. there is a lot of money in the republican party. john: you have had a long career. you have had some great achievements and dubious achievements.

are you proud that the junior high school on "family guy" is called buddy cianci junior high school? buddy: seth mcfarland went to the rhode island school of design. i think that is where he got the idea. i wish i had gone there myself. john: thank you so much. he was not kidding about the marinara sauce. it is called real-world italian style sauce. the mayor's own marinara sauce. after the break, who is lincoln chafee? seriously, who is he? ♪

mark: former republican, former democrat and current independent lincoln chafee is running for president. you may be asking yourself, who is lincoln chafee and why watch? we compiled the life and times of a man called lincoln.

>> just when you think you have got him pegged, lincoln chafee changes it up. exiled into political obscurity, running for president. >> i do not know why i am under the radar. >> classic lincoln. every other republican senator votes for the iraq war, he votes against it. then loses reelection to a democrat. makes peace with his party endorses obama. leaves his party, runs for governor. loses popularity, becomes a democrat. >> i never changed my core convictions. >> still the same old linc. this is a guy that turned a classic's degree from brown into a career as a racetrack blacksmith.

he returned home to follow in his father's footsteps. now he is running for the nation's top job, inspiring confidence in his old constituents and taking the tough questions. >> are you on drugs? chafee was not a good governor how is he going to be a good president? >> with lincoln, it is his party and he will run if he wants to. >> i ask for your vote. mark: another great job by our colleague. ♪

john: go online and google stephen colbert shaves his beard. earlier in the show, i said that only donald trump had a higher unfavorable than jeb bush. also chris christie did.

mark: we are on twice a day. thanks for watching. sayonara.

emily: hewlett-packard gets "back in the m&a game.” ceo meg whitman tells me how she sees the industry rearranging itself. ? i am emily chang, and this is "bloomberg west.” two big shareholder meetings happening in san francisco. sergey brin tells his investors the company needs to continue taking big risks. we are counting down to the twitter shareholder meeting. will the company be able to improve the weight is perceived on wall street? tim cook calls out silicon valley for monetizing user data. the change he wants to see on facebook and google. welcome to the dot-porn era.