be if he jumps into the race. hillary clinton saying if he gets in she will continue to speak positively about biden and that she ll put forward her platform and democratic voters will decide. here s vermont senator bernie sanders on the question of biden 2016. it s i suppose you could argue that more voices, more ideas add to the debate. you don t seem that convinced. i mean, it s a very personal decision. it s a big decision that joe biden has to make. i m sure he has his advisers telling him what to do. he doesn t need my advice. reporter: sanders does not sound totally comfortable with the question of vice president biden jumping into the race. no doubt he would have an impact on the race for the democratic nomination. ah, if only we knew, right, mike? maybe you ll find out while you re there. time for our 2016 presidential power index where we look at who s up and who s down on the race for the white house. gop side, ted cruz and marco rubio and donald trump and carly
and that s, you know, gives you a sense of how supportive women in comedy are of each other. so you can give me your cell phone number, i ll text you, so we can coordinate, so i can come up and make a cameo on girls sometime. perfect. just consider it, you can mull it over later. great. i do want to get your take, lena, of course obviously we re talking about you ve been an early and vocal supporter of hillary this election. you ve also campaigned in the past for obama and biden. what do you think about the prospect of hillary in the race but also the prospect of biden jumping in? you know, i am a huge i ve loved every moment of supporting president obama. i m so grateful for what i think for the strides i feel he s made for this country. and i have for a long time felt like it was an exciting time for a woman with hillary s experience and authority to step to the forefront. lena dunham, great to have you jump on the phone. appreciate it.
b. if you look at iowa, she is in iowa deeply vulnerable. the difference between biden jumping in today with someone who has a political machine that has bakesically been building ts machine for the last eight years, he doesn t have that infrastructure. i think he says, let me actually see what happens with hillary clinton, and if she falters big enough where the donors start withholding their money, then all of a sudden he can come in. but he s the alternative, though. he s not a real alternative. this is the challenge with sanders is he has a very progressive white base, but he s having a very difficult time with the african-american population. that is exactly where i see the potential lame for biden. when you look at the numbers in the new poll around non-white voters and i was talking about this to john earlier, right? hillary clinton has 61% right now, and that s to be expected,
cue lags th culation calculation he would make. and his late son wanted him to run as well? that is clearly weighing on him as well. in terms of looking at this from a very emotional human perspective. mr. sexton, you think that biden jumping in the race could be ben fseficial to hillary clinton? how is that? a panning move fr ipanic mov democrats. hillary s numbers are bad among those she need to win the election. there is a lot of traction that s been received from the e-mailer use and other thing that have come up with her. she know it that lookable. she is not taking interviews. not speaking to the press. if biden gets in, in the short term. it means essentially there is somebody else for the press to pay attention to. some body to take heat off hillarien the short term. longer term play is to have somebody there as a plan b for worst case scenario if in fact, him ear has real problems from
vice president is doing some work of his own. he s not calling people asking if he should run but saying i am thinking about it but i m also thinking about beau. and there is some evidence of an opening against front runner hillary clinton. the same poll that found bernie sanders leading hillary in new hampshire, 44% to clinton s 37%, also found 46% of likely democratic voters in the state, plurality, think biden should run for the nomination of the democratic party. earlier this week hillary clinton herself was asked about biden jumping into the race. i consider him a friend. we were colleagues in the senate. i have the highest regard and affection for him. i spoke to him at his son s funeral. and i think we should all just let the vice president be with his family and make whatever decision he believes is right for him and i will respect whatever that decision is. sources close to the vice president told nbc news he is on track to make his decision this month or next.