Obama Campaign Considered Replacing Biden With Hillary Clinton For 2012 Election

Joe Biden was almost replaced as President Obama's 2012 VP candidate, a new book claims.

In "Double Down," an explosive account of the 2012 election, writers Mark Halperin and John Heilemann claim that many of the president's top aides wanted Hillary Clinton to be his running mate instead.

As The New York Times' Jonathan Martin details, many in the White House were growing frustrated with Biden's unpredictable behavior, particularly when he infamously expressed his support for same-sex marriage before Obama did.

William Daley, Obama's chief of staff at the time, confirmed to the New York Times that he was pushing the idea.

“I was vocal about looking into a whole bunch of things, and this was one of them,” he said.

Ultimately though, the campaign decided that the switch-up wasn't politically worth it. It's not clear whether or not Obama was privy to the plans.

The idea of getting rid of Biden was floated around many times during the campaign. As early as 2012, columnists like Sally Quinn suggested that Obama should run with Hillary Clinton. Even Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Obama "might be wise" to swap Biden for Clinton. And Clinton wasn't the only rumored VP candidate option. The New York Post reported in 2011 that Obama was considering asking New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to be his running mate instead.

UPDATE:David Plouffe, a former senior White House adviser and Obama's 2008 campaign manager, denied the story. Hours after the details from the book were released, Plouffe tweeted that the switch-up was never on the table.

Never any - any - consideration of VP/HRC switch. Not even entertained by the only person who mattered. Or most of us. Back to Halloween.

— David Plouffe (@davidplouffe) October 31, 2013