Joe Biden concedes he doesn't know if he could have won in 2016 if he had been the Democratic presidential candidate opposing Donald Trump.
"I don't know," he told The New York Times. "Everybody says that. But look, I don't know. You've got to be in the game. I thought Hillary [Clinton] would have made a good president."
Biden had decided not to make a bid for the presidency in 2016 as his son, Beau, was dying of cancer, The Washington Free Beacon noted.
Now that he's a 2020 candidate, the former vice president is convinced that the general election will mostly be a referendum on Trump.
"Even when [Trump] was running, I don't think anybody thought he would be as bad as he is," Biden told the Times.
Biden was asked if he was disappointed former President Barack Obama had not spoken up for him after he was challenged in the first Democratic debates for his position on busing in the 1970s.
"I would rather him not get engaged," Biden said. "I want to win this fair and square."