Transcript: NPR's Full Interview With Joe Biden
Morning Edition host Rachel Martin interviews former Vice President Joe Biden aboard his campaign bus en route to Decorah, Iowa, about his bid for the Democratic nomination and the impeachment inquiry against President Trump.
This is the transcript of a conversation held on Dec. 6, 2019.
Rachel Martin: Mr. Vice President, thank you very much for having us.
Former Vice President Joe Biden: Well thanks for being on the bus. I appreciate it.
On the bus, very exciting. So we're in Iowa.
Yup.
You have been here before.
Been here a lot.
You've been here a lot. This is the third time you have campaigned in this state for president.
Well for president, yeah. But I started off way back campaigning for Senator John Culver, when he was running in 1974. I've campaigned for a lot of Iowans.
You've been here. You've put in a lot of miles. You've got the most name recognition in Iowa right now in this race, or in the race writ large. You have the résumé. You've got the relevant experience, more so than any other candidate. Why aren't you running away with this thing? You're fourth in the polls in Iowa.
Well, you know, you sound like you know a lot about Iowa. You know, they don't make up their minds until after Thanksgiving. They really don't even do it till after Christmas. And you still have in the Iowa polling or favorable rating is still very high — it's in the 70s.
People think the most important issue, based on the polling data I've seen, I think from The Des Moines Register, don't hold me to it, but I think it was they said the most important thing, they want someone who can beat Trump.
And now we're starting to happen is because I had the most name recognition of my move right to the top in all the polling data. I got all the incoming, and they say [unintelligible] from y'all. And, and now other people are as they move, beginning to look at them as well. And so things are beginning to, you know, move differently.
But nationally, it's not changed. Nationally we've been had double digits, and we're way ahead in South Carolina as well as in Nevada, and so it's, you know, it's early.
Well, let me ask you: You recently got an endorsement from your friend, Senator John Kerry, former Secretary of State John Kerry. There are some within your party, in particular younger voters, who look to the former secretary of state and it's a warning for them for 2020 because they think about 2004. Because while John Kerry came from behind, while John Kerry came from behind to win Iowa, he still lost the presidential race.
And he was, he was the stabilizing force. He was the guy with
