Top Barack Obama campaign aides considered replacing Vice President Joe Biden with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the 2012 Democratic ticket, going so far as to test the shake up in polls and focus groups, according to a new book.
The bombshell details are revealed in “Double Down: Game Change 2012,” by journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann — a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO on Thursday.
Top Obama aides Jim Messina, David Plouffe and then-White House chief of staff Bill Daley all used Obama campaign focus and polling groups to determine whether there was any political advantage to replacing Biden with Clinton.
Daley, in particular, was a major proponent of the idea, and in an interview with the The New York Times he confirmed that he had considered the idea. A copy of the book was obtained by the Times, which reported the news first on Thursday.
Ultimately, the idea was dropped when it was determined there would be no significant advantage in the polls by replacing Biden with Clinton.
