>> we are cruising at 88 miles per hour. try to keep up. joe biden kicked the tires of the delorean and decided running for president would not be his density -- i mean destiny.

to time.ion came down >> as my family and i have worked through the grieving ,rocess, i have said all along what i have said time and again to others, that it may very will be that process by the time we get through it closes the window on mounting a realistic campaign for president. that it might close. i have concluded that it has closed. -- as i have said many times, my family has suffered loss and i hope there will come a time that sooner rather than later when you think of your loved one, it brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eyes. well, that is where the bidens are today. thank god. beau is our inspiration.

unfortunately, i believe we are out of time, the time necessary to mount a winning campaign for the nomination. ran out of time. is that the reason? >> i think there is a mixture of things going on, one was the genuine struggle, the emotional feel he needed to do this. the other was this close circle of people around him trying to convince him that there was a path that you could put a team together, raise the money. i was always dubious about that proposition. i think we have learned that biden himself was dubious about that decision and reach the conclusion that his advisers were too optimistic. mark: there was always the chance that he thought he could do it in an unorthodox way. my understanding is that in the end he felt the way a lot of

people do, looking at it and saying that there is a chance, but is there a big enough chance that it's worth going for it? u biden had died later, it would have been clear-cut. if he hadn't gotten sick, joe biden would have been running for president. 'se particular timing of beau death made it impossible for him to reconcile it a mostly and run a campaign for president. he does want to in this administration strong, and he did not feel there was a way to balance being vice president, international travel, negotiating with congress, fundraising, campaigning, and taking care of his family. john: many people around biden, close friends, long-time associates, and the president of

the united states, believed it would be bad and that he would be likely to lose the race. it would be a bad way to end the career, he is upset with the clintons. worsee to them would be than losing to anybody else. losing a third time, not the weight you want to injure career. mark: look for a lot of improvisation and at living. you saw the outlines of how he wanted to run. john: sigh of relief among many people. this is heavy, two things were clear. he is not turning off his microphone. he is not done jabbing at hillary clinton for saying that republicans are among her top enemies. while i will not be a

candidate, i will not be silent. i intend to speak out clearly and forcefully, to influence as much as i can, where we stand as a party, and where we need to go as a nation. this is what i believe. i believe that president obama has lead this nation from crisis to recovery, and we are now on the cusp of resurgence. i am proud to have played a part in that. this party, our nation, will be making a tragic mistake if we walk away from or attempted to undo the obama legacy. i don't believe like some dude that it is naïve to talk to republicans. i don't think we should look at republicans as our enemy. opposition. they are not our enemies. for the sake of the country, we have to work together. john: mark, what do you think that biden, his decision not to

go and continued throwing at the front runner, mean for hillary clinton going forward and the nomination contest? i think he will ratchet down the indirect criticism of hilly clinton. it is a two-person race. there is a slim chance of that somebody could get into the race, very slim. it makes it easy for hillary clinton and bernie sanders. bernie sanders path is to beat or wound her in new hampshire. then he must consolidate any weakness she shows. john: i think it makes it easier for hillary clinton. the biden vote will drift to her. we have seen the polling. that is where most of his strength game. if he had run, it would have given sanders a better chance of beating her. it benefits hillary. mark: it helps sanders as well. if she is indicted, e-mail

problems -- there is no alternative. bernie sanders can be the nominee. in addition to throwing that shade at clinton, he made the argument today, do not run away from barack obama. he was sending almost a warning to her to not distance. she is not doing that now. he will be a loud voice for the obama legacy as this campaign progresses. if she does, all will be well. he is still angry at her for a variety of reasons we can discuss later. mark: sanders with biting in the race a five-point lead. without biden, an eight point lead. big difference with that. with vice president out of the race, is it now more or less likely that a democrat wins the white house next year? john: yes, it makes it easier

for hillary clinton to win. i think it is more likely for a democrat to win the white house. in a one on one race, the likely of a longer, more prolonged, complicated primary, bad for democratic prospects. a simpler head-to-head contest makes it likely that hillary can put bernie sanders away early, or not, and then it goes on until june. mark: with biden out of the race, it is now possible that hillary clinton will win iowa, new hampshire, and be the democratic nominee by february 9, and republicans battle all the way to june. that makes it more likely that the democrats hold the white house. all the weaknesses that she has, but the republican fight will be a long, bloody, everything.

there is a chance the democratic will not be like that. mark: there's a lot of people around president obama who would biden ord towards remain neutral, but they are now all in for hillary. said torack obama has all of his people to go work for hillary clinton. trump coming up faster you can spell jigawatt. ♪

john: new findings from our latest new hampshire poll. this time it is about the republicans. donald trump performs about as

good as goldie wilson doesn't hill valley. number goes up even higher. here is the kicker. 43% say he is the most likely to win the general election. performing like biff tanner. people remain highly skeptical that trouble be the nominee. his lead in the horse race and national standing, you have to say he looks to be the strongest clearly. john: most likely republican nominee at this moment. you would have to be denying reality. the thing that has changed, the things we cited early on, all of high unfavorables, a lot have drifted away. percentage of people who will

never vote for trump, that has flipped. people take him seriously as a potential nominee, and that matters, because whatever your views are, if you start to believe, you take that person seriously and plausibly. mark: the question that people ask for months about what would cause him to fall is no longer the question. is there on alternative and who is it? who is strong enough to stop trump? i still think is a question if they run negative ads again him what that will do. mark: the conversation with mike to donaldrphy refers trump as a zombie front runner. that got us thinking about zombie politics. we made this trailer. persons who recently died have been returning to life.

>> a psalm the front runner. -- a zombie front runner. >> a zombie candidate. >> planning some kind of big action to stop him. let's make america great again. a film coming soon to a theater near you. here to talk about zombie trump eisenberg,n, sasha joining us from minneapolis. mike murphy has not done many interviews. he separated himself from bush and running the super pack. to have thisreed long conversation with you about how he sees his campaign playing out? >> they have an interest in

calming what i guess on the democratic side they call beed wetters, or donors will lose their confidence in this campaign, they think that bush has lost the plot, that whatever plan the campaign had is not working out, and they feel there is a real need to communicate that they remain in control of their destiny and know what they were doing and that all the over that they have had the course of the year is being budgeted intelligently. the other part of it is that i'm being used as a conduit, a way for mike murphy to communicate to danny diaz, sally bradshaw, she other longtime confidant what they are up to and thinking. when you look back over the last few months, bush announced the

debut for trump got in, so all the planning that was done deliberately to set up these parallel structures, the campaign, the super pack, the theyc policy foundation -- have worked together closely for 20 years had never had a conversation in which they assume that donald trump would be a candidate for president. i was being used as a way to amplify the communication that cannot be had directly. john: you are like a co-conspirator. murphy, he gave a brief interview in the washington post where he said that donald trump is not our problem. we don't want to take on donald trump. that was seen as a way of signaling as well. over the last couple of months, bush has spent an extraordinary amount of time quarreling with donald trump, including last week. he spent a bunch of time in

october argue about his brother, 9/11, and the comments trump made. you get any sense that mike murphy is saying that my candidate is not doing what i would be telling him to do if i could talk to him directly. on thet the sense that tactical stuff, yes. here is where the real disconnect is and how murphy sees this trump world. strategically, they see trumps arise is fine. trump pushed walker, a potential of thempetitor, out picture. it frees up money, potential support for bush. that trumps rises suffocates other candidates who don't have the resources as murphy does, as murphy says, that helps them. tactically, bush is being run ragged daily by trump, and doing a very poor job of figuring out

how to respond. i asked murphy what it is like to be in a position where you control all this page media, well over $100 million, but you can't do with her candidate does free media our to our. to hour. message is not in murphy's hands anymore. mark: lots of interesting stuff from murphy in that these. everybody should look at it on bloomberg politics. the staying power of marco rubio, what he thought it is. >> that is the guy that worries them the most. to idea that if they can get march and it is them and trump, that is great. the person standing between them likely marcomost rubio. installments on the

transcripts, how often murphy brings the conversation back to rubio. they feel he has not been tested. to obama, ares him guy given the benefit of the doubt of the press, but has not had his record picked over. murphy was saying that it is time for the direct contrast to take place. "doc thank you, sasha brown" eisenberg. now the question is, what is in our future? galvan -- gavin newsom is coming up next. ♪

>> our guest tonight is gavin newsom. he plans to be the candidate for the governorship of that state in 2018. he is backing a statewide ballot measure that would strengthen gun laws in california, restrict sales of ammunition.

governor gavin, thank you for being here. hunt does not -- think he -- donald trump to be the nominee. there has been a lot of news on the issue of firearms. do you think that after the last several years, we are in a different time? >> i would like to think we are in a different point in time. but i thought that at the end of newtown, but nothing happened. california has a reputation to be on the leading edge of gun safety laws. in fact, we have seen the same kind of influence the nra has advanced in congress. we have had a series of legislative efforts on

ammunition. what we are going to do is recognize the home-court for the nra is the legislative process. instead of competing there, we will go directly to the voters. the 2016 presidential right, we have a debate going on about gun troll. you feel strongly about -- about gun control. you assert that stuff happened. .tuff does not have to happen it is absurd. it is that kind of attitude, the reason we are in the mess we are in. to sees not surprising the position hillary clinton has taken. what do you feel about bernie sanders? >> i wish he could go back in

time and look at those votes. hillary clinton is clearly taking advantage of the separation, taking advantage of that distinction. been 16redit, it has plus years since we have had a national debate about gun control. the fact that she asserted herself so aggressively against the nra took courage. happens," after a tragedy, it is more indicative of a broader narrative. good people can disagree and it is ok to disagree about certain provisions, but to say passively that we cannot do things and

cannot necessarily influence the activity of others, i fundamentally disagree with that . that is why we are trying to step up. we are coming up with some thoughtful legislation. california would be the only backgrounderica with checks on ammunition. the most dangerous part of the weapon is the bullet. >> would you rather have the affordable care act or single-payer? >> the affordable care act is here to stay. extending medicare to all would have been a cleaner approach. >> one would like single-payer and one would like to improve the affordable care act. >> deal with the one you have got. in a perfect world, if you could start over again and get the

constituencies to oblige, single-payer is a clear strategy. >> what would happen if hillary clinton lost the ohio caucuses to bernie sanders? what i think -- >> i think she would prevail. >> do you have a slogan? >> not yet. make california great again, but the trademark. want to make sure you are still pushing for pot legalization, though. he was so much. we will be -- thank you so much. thank you for coming in. ♪

john: we are live 24-7 on bloomberg.com. we are on the tube twice a day.

mark: until tomorrow, thank you for watching. sayonara. ♪

emily: a big win for ebay since spending off paypal -- sp inning off paypal. welcome back to "bloomberg west ." we have a great show coming up for you. i will be spending -- sitting down with michael dell. we will talk about the future of reddit. we are talking about