Barack Obama seriously considered picking former foe Hillary Clinton as his vice presidential running mate last year but rejected her because he was worried about controlling Bill Clinton. In a new book, the US president's 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe reveals the behind-the-scenes calculations as Obama searched for a vice presidential nominee and finally settled on Joe Biden.
"If his central criterion measured who could be the best VP, she had to be included in that list," Plouffe wrote in advance excerpts of the book "Audacity to Win" published in Time magazine. "She was competent, could help in Congress, would have international bona fides and had been through this before, albeit in a different role.
"He wanted to continue discussing her as we moved forward," Plouffe wrote. Despite still bitter feelings over the fierce Democratic primary duel, Obama continued to be intrigued by Clinton as the process progressed, saying she had "smarts, discipline, steadfastness," Plouffe wrote. But in the end, concern over ex-president Bill Clinton's larger-than-life presence and political manoeuvring cost Clinton a chance at the job - which she had already signalled publicly she did not want.