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7:30 am ET: CBS This Morning
Vice President Joe Biden Interview with Bob Schieffer for “Face the Nation”
VIDEO: http://mms.tveyes.com/PlaybackPortal.aspx?SavedEditID=6b16e9a5-adce-48a1-9c4c-8db6f24cbad5

ROSE: as many of you know the supreme court is expected to take a preliminary vote today on the challenge to the Obama health care law. though we will not know the final outcome until June. chief Washington correspondent host "face the nation" asked Vice President Joe Biden about the case in a sit down interview.

VPOTUS: first, i think we should bring the temperature down. you and i have watched the supreme court for a lot of years. no one's made any money betting an outcome of cases based on oral argument and questions asked. we think the mandate and law is constitutional. we think the court will rule that way.

SCHEIFFER: what would happen, though, I mean, if this whole thing was thrown out and you have to start over?

VPOTUS: I’m not going to speculate about something i don't believe will happen. i don't believe it will happen. so i just think we should focus on what is the law doing for people now and what would happen if, in fact, republicans are able to repeal it.

ROSE: bob schieffer with us from washington. good morning. at the beginning of this, as vice president said, have you been in washington a lot of years so it's good to see "face the nation" go after a lot of years, to a full hour, to have an opportunity to get involved in this political race we're looking at. secondly, the vice president, you have known him a lot of years since he came to the senate, when he was 29 years old. what kind of vice president has he been and how valuable and how well do the president and vice president get along?

SCHIEFFER: well, i think he's been a very good vice president. this is not a vice president like, say, dick cheney who set up his own shadow government within the government and sort of ran as an independent contractor over there. this is someone who ran against barack obama during the democratic primaries. didn't last very long. as he said, they drummed me out almost from the beginning. but he is someone who's been totally loyal to this president. i think he's given and offered very good advice, some of which was taken, some of which was not taken. i'm told by insiders. but someone who is never reluctant to get out there and try to make the administration's case. joe biden is kind of one of those old fashioned irish politicians. sort of like ted kennedy or tip o'neill or some of those people we've seen come down the line. unlike a lot of people in politics today, he has a great zest for politics. he really loves it. he likes to get out there and mix it up. he'll be the lead attack dog in this coming campaign, charlie. that's what we saw yesterday. the white house -- you saw all these endorsements going yesterday to mitt romney. that means that people in the republican party think that mitt romney is going to win. people don't endorse people they think that are going to lose. but the other group of people who think that mitt romney's going to wind up with the nomination is the white house. when you see joe biden out there on "face the nation" and other places he's making speeches now, that tells you they've concluded it's going to be romney and they are -- and the general election is already under way. they'll wait for details later on the republican nomination. but they think it's going to be romney and they've got it under way.

ROSE: two issues that are going to be at the center of this presidential campaign. one is health care. i'll take that. erica can talk about gas prices. health care. if it is declared in part or totally unconstitutional, what impact, the question you asked joe biden?

SCHEIFFER: well, biden absolutely will not speculate. he's been around in washington for a long time –

ROSE: but you will.

SCHIEFFER: well, it's very difficult, charlie, not to come away after hearing the arguments and i was not inside the court, but the arguments they were making every indication are -- was that they are not enamored with this idea of that -- that the government can tell people to buy health insurance. i think it will have a huge impact, both politically and economic alley. if you talk to democrats, they tell you that if this thing is thrown out, it's going to add millions of dollars to the deficit. republicans will tell you just the opposite. you know, both have their talking points. but i think what biden was saying yesterday is that when push comes to shove, democrats think this is a good thing. they think it's the fairest way to treat people. republicans, no matter what happens, they're still going to try to take grandma's medicare away from her, whether the court lets this stand or doesn't. but i just don't see any -- any way that this is not going to play in the election. and coming in june, it will be what we'll all be talking about, whatever the court –

HILL: just before the convention. we need to ask you quickly about the administration's take and focus on gas prices. obviously, the president throwing his support out there yesterday to repeal these subsidies, which didn't ultimately work in the senate. how much of a focus, though, is there in items of a campaign strategy when it comes to gas prices, how much concern?

SCHIEFFER: well, republicans are going to keep hammering this, just like barack obama hammered george bush in 2008, talking about how much prices -- the people running for president always blame the person who -- the incumbent president for rises gas prices. i mean, democrats make the point that there's really not all that much a president can do about it. it has to do with china and this enormous appetite it has for oil now. it has to do with turmoil in the middle east and has to do with speculators. that's the argument of those who say there's not much the president can do about it. but that's not going to stop the candidates from saying they ought to do something about it. gas prices have an enormous impact, much more than any of these numbers you hear about deficits and all that kind of thing, because when people go to the gas pump, they see the price of gas staring them at eye level right there on the gas gauge. it's always with us.

HILL: it's a tough number to swallow.

ROSE: look forward to tuning in on sunday as "face the nation" goes to one hour. check your local listings for time. right here on cbs