>> jim webb, a man with a simple dream. all he wanted was to be heard. now he is doing the only thing he can. >> i am withdrawing from consideration for being the democratic nominee for the presidency. >> tonight, we bid farewell to a democrat. godspeed, senator. jim webb. he has been waiting for 10 minutes. ♪

mark: [sighs] john: see you around, jim. in our lineup tonight, a whole bunch of secrets. starting with joe biden. what is he doing? i never know what he is doing. his lips are sealed about what he may do and what he may not do. but meanwhile in our brand-new bloomberg politics new hampshire poll, biden is lagging it -- at 10% in the democratic field. bernie sanders leads hillary clinton 41% to 36%. the news is not really how much mr. b is getting lost in the shuffle. mark, big poll, new poll, what stands out? mark: we have our partners in new hampshire on bloombergpolitics.com. looking at the biden fees, there was polling earlier that was

-- looking at the biden piece, there was polling earlier not looking good for him. this poll did not have a lot of good news for him. they look at two traits that if vice president said he ran he should be kicking butt. who cares about people like you? when you had biden in the mix, only 10% said biting cares about people like you more than clinton. sanders, ready to be president, another place where biden feels like he would do well. 21% said that he is ready to be president. clinton more than doubling him. once he is in the race it is a different dynamic. but it cannot be encouraging from the people in new hampshire.

john: the last time we did this poll was back in june. you look at these numbers. sanders up 17% since june, clinton down 20% since june. at least in new hampshire, the big mo is with bernie sanders. mark: she can still catch up. people are missing the dynamic here. she is not that far behind in any poll, but she is behind the new hampshire. all right, joe biden may not have said anything about his presidential ambitions, but he did talk up a storm where he did have a jab against hillary clinton, or at least seem to, in a conversation with walter mondale. here is biden for the second where at last

weeks debate, she listed republicans among the enemies she is most proud to have. vice president biden: that is when i get sent to the hill. which, by the way, is a really useful use of my time. i respect my republican friends. i do not think my chief enemy is the republican party. this is a matter of making things work. mark: it is true that joe biden says stuff about republicans like that all of the time. but two days in a row after the debate? then later he threw some shade in her way when he talked on international diplomacy. vice president biden: i will be sent to go speak to putin or go speak to erdogan. when i go, they know i am speaking for the president. there is nothing missed between

the lip and the cup. whatever i say, the president is saying. mark: a third thing that biden says that is getting attention, when he talked about killing osama bin laden. this is contrary to previous statements he has made about advice he gave president obama. today, he says he privately encouraged his boss to go for it, and when he was listing people in the cabinet who supported it, he left hillary clinton off the list. john, is the vice president being careless, playful, or purposeful with remarks today that contrasted himself with hillary clinton? john: joe biden is sometimes careless. not in this instance. joe biden is often playful. not in this instance. purposeful, purposeful, purposeful. i'm not saying any of those things indicates he will or will not run. these are very calculated. the bin laden thing most of all. it is a thorn in his side that he has been perceived as not being fully in favor of the raid. we know from reporting we did contemporaneously that people around the vice president at that time said to us that biden

was kind of like playing a little game in this argument, trying to give obama cover. mark: he may have socratic we said, maybe this is not a good idea, but privately told be president. whether joe biden is planning to run or not, and we don't know, some people look at what he said today and said, he is chafing at the notion he is not doing well. that people are saying, you missed your chance, you can run, -- you can't run, hillary clinton is too strong. john: let me do this row quick. clinton has been throwing shade at biden. today she has 50 black mayors endorsing her. wednesday you have the benghazi hearing. she's going on rachel maddow. saturday she will be with bill

clinton and katy perry. that is hillary clinton saying, joe biden, step back. mark: a lot of show of force. bill clinton wondering whether joe biden is getting in. they are trying to make it as hard for him as possible. john: no doubt about it. publishing a rare, lengthy, on the record conversation with mark murphy. in the conversation, murphy makes the case for a jeb come back. one, he says donald trump cannot win the general election and come march, jeb bush will be the only one with enough resources to go the distance. this is a three-way question, multiple-choice. you think that that argument is convincing, compelling, or simply ridiculous? john: -- mark: it's the best argument they can make. the notion you can be shut out in february and come back with super pac money -- most people i know do not believe in that. he needs a surge to put himself

in the game. john: such a ouster about what happens if he does not want to win one of those first four states -- and he says i do not want to engage in hypotheticals. but as you pointed out, the whole interview is engaging in hypotheticals. he is spending millions of dollars to get people to focus on jeb bush's florida record. you know what they are focusing on? jeb bush defending george w. bush. not what mike murphy wanted. mark: his big bills to florida may not be working. john: maybe. [laughter] mark: coming up, it is early evening with seth meyers. we will ask him our desert island questions after this word from our sponsors. ♪

seth: you have been critical of the trump campaign. are you surprised he is doing so well and getting the traction? senator graham: i had a notion that insulting a whole class of people was a bad move, but apparently not. seth: people from new hampshire, people from iowa take the responsibility very, very seriously. governor o'malley: i will tell you, you were a major celebrity there. senator cruz: it's a very small

state. john: we have no idea what city you are from seth meyers -- you are from, seth meyers. seth: a proud regiment of west high in manchester. john: thank you for coming. i would you start with new hampshire trivia. seth: great. i won't do well, yeah. john: state insect? seth: black fly? john: ladybug. seth: state sport? ok, two for three. new hampshire has an outsize importance of presidential politics? do you think that is right, fair, and proper? seth: i don't. i would be a lot happier if they rotated the setting the tone around. with that said, i do think -- people from new hampshire take it very, very seriously. one of the benefits of a small state, obviously, i think most of the voters get a chance to meet the candidates in a way you

do not get in a larger state. i would not be of set, although a lot of people in my home state would be, i would not be upset if they changed it. john: you will not be welcome back in the state. seth: that's fine. mark: were you at a lot of the primaries? seth: i graduated high school in 1992. every single candidate came through. i actually introducted jerry brown -- i got to wear a plaid shirt instead of a coat and tie because it was jerry brown. i saw clinton. john: did you work on campaigns? seth: i was too cool. i never worked on any campaigns. but that was the nice thing about growing up there. john: what do you get ready -- what do you do to get ready for an interview like that? seth: it's nice because you bone of more than you would for someone who is a movie or

television show. also, it is very important to be intelligent and you want to project information to the audience, because that is the only reason to have candidates on. if you ask a candidate a question, they will talk the whole time unless you interrupt them. they kind of -- mark: you do the lean-in thing. seth: you noticed in that clinton package i was leaning farther and farther forward. mark: give us your ones in his thumbnail. seth: john kasich seems like a

very nice man, but i don't know if the electoral college right now is looking for a reasonable man. mark: ted cruz. seth: ted cruz, i found him a very aggressive debater. he was more interesting than most of my guest because he was very willing to go back and forth. you can tell he likes conflict and that made him an interesting guest. mark: carly fiorina? seth: carly fiorina was sharp, but less charismatic than i was expecting. mark: really? seth: as a talkshow guest i did not find her to be -- mark: wowed. seth: i think when people run for president they need a little more spark may be. mark: last, mr. sparkle, lindsey graham? seth: he was all sparkle. he had loaded up jokes. you can always tell when they preplan their off because jokes. john: bernie sanders? seth: great sense of humor, laid-back, fun to talk to. john: we were told that your dream interview is with vladimir putin. seth: i would love to get him on the show. great impressionist. john: ok, i'm going to be vladimir putin. [russian accent] seth meyers, between you. before we send you to the labor camp, what would you like to know about me? seth: i should let you know, vladimir, i ask you questions. i feel like you right away stole that away from me.

i'm not a guest on your show. this is not crimea. this is "late night with said myers. you can't just take this. john: at this point if i were vladimir putin, i would take my shirt off and you would be done. seth: right. mark: clinton, obama, and bush all had moments of late-night triumph. seth: yeah. mark: jeb bush, what is the funniest thing about him? seth: it's different now. there are so many talk shows. we enjoy having these people on as guests. in a weird way the market is a little saturated. i feel like for all their best efforts, i don't know if anyone is going to have a late-night moment that will elevate them. mark: hillary on "snl." seth: certainly i remember the "snl," one of my biggest memories is when sarah palin came on and that was one of the most highly rated episodes.

john: your pataki episode. seth: pataki was huge. john: stick around. we are going to continue this conversation. we are here with seth meyers. ♪

♪ mark: welcome back. we are still here talking to seth meyers. john: i want to ask you about weekend update. this is probably the first time you have ever talked about politics on tv, right? seth: to a certain extent, right.

john: did this whet your appetite? seth: certainly when you are writing jokes about it, it so helpful when audiences are paying attention to what is going on. audiences are interested in debates. it's the time when elections are most like television. it's always easier in an election cycle. mark: probably your greatest connection to american history is the 2011 white house correspondents dinner. a lot going on. you and the president hanging out while he is ordering the killing of an international terrorist. and you and the president took on trump. seth: probably took him down. mark: you only made him angry. seth: it was like a kung fu movie where he went and trained for three years. mark: remember what he said about you? seth: he called me a third-rate comedian and said i sounded like

i had marbles in my mouth. have you been in that room? mark: yeah, i was there. seth: it is so widespread and it is impossible to have any sense of where any when the audience is sitting. john: and the pressure is so intense. is that the toughest room you have ever played? seth: toughest room i have ever played. not just bdcause of the being on a dais with the president just one seat away. let me point something out -- i think it is unfair that the president goes first. he's funny. he should not be opening. he should be closing. there is nothing harder than following the president.

mark: if pataki is president, will you do it? seth: when you do something like that, sometimes you just get lucky because that was very fresh, the trump talking about birth certificates, and i think it made for a better nights, because you are not pulling back to a story from seven months ago. mark: that was electric. do you remember any of your chum jokes from that night? i've got them here. seth: donald trump says if he runs for president, he will run as a republican. which is funny because i thought it would be as a joke. mark: that's almost like rain man. donald trump said he would be running on fox -- seth: which is ironic because a fox is usually on his head? mark: how do think trump is doing this time? seth: i have been proven seven -- proven wrong seven times in the trunk campaign about whether he will last and whether this is real. i have to tip my cap and say i am impressed at his staying power and is a comedy writer in someone who does what i do, the longer the better. john: i will tell you something

you may not know that may seem it even more unfair that the president went ahead of you. writing the jokes for the president was judd apatow. seth: yeah. john: he is very good on delivering comedy in very good writers on his team. seth: the year before, it was myself in the weekend update writers. we chipped in jokes. america's best show up for the president. mark: the a former new hampshire citizen. i'm going to ask you poll questions we have been asking voters. who would you trust more to take on putin? bush or trump? seth: bush.

mark: who would you trust more to handle the economy, bush or trump? seth: bush. mark: who seems more presidential, bush or trump? seth: i don't trust trump. mark: you're out of step. john: i think it's possible you're not republican. seth: that's possible. what about these guys not pulling it all well on the public inside. and the democratic side. a guy like lincoln chafee. do you see that guy is fair game, or do you elevate him, do you help them if you make a joke? have you think about those marginal candidates as a source of comedy? seth: let me just say, i don't think lincoln chafee can be helped. jokes or no jokes. there's a certain amount of hubris that anyone, even a qualified candidate as when he says, you know who would be perfect to run america? me. anytime they show up for debate, they are fair game. there is no need to have sympathy for someone who wants to be in the public eye and wants to represent the american people.

mark: last question and take this one seriously, but comedy twist it after you give a serious answer. 21 candidates. i know you have them memorized. if you are on a desert island for three years and you have enough coconuts and there's no food issue, if you could take one -- what would you take and -- who would you take and why? seth: three? mark: just one. john: you are not there for life. just a long time. mark: you can factor in other needs you might have. seth: o'malley on guitar. i guess, politics aside -- i want a doctor. dr. ben carson. i think it's important to have medical care and i think that would give me at least one anecdote. john: there is almost no way he would go on the island with you unless you were armed.

mark: you are mr. practical. you take the physician. seth: no matter who i am around with, it will be a terrible three years. john: and if you give birth to conjoined twins, he can sort that out for you on the spot. seth: i don't know how that's going to happen. john: seth meyers, thank you very much. your fantastic and awesome in every way. thanks for staying with "with all due respect." ♪

♪ john: we are live 24/7 on bloomberg politics. and tomorrow, part two of our interview with bush impresario mike murphy. john: and we will be digging deeper on the democratic race. thanks for watching.

sayonara.

♪ i'm cory johnson in for emily chang and this is "bloomberg west." next third-quarter earnings with the looming sale of their parent company emc, and tesla shares tank. and why the multibillion-dollar delve megamerger will succeed.