Plouffe spills on VP choices

President Obama's campaign manager says that he was surprised at his boss's interest in Hillary Rodham Clinton as his running mate, but that worries about Bill Clinton ultimately ended that flirtation.

In excerpts of his new book published online and in the new issue of Time magazine, David Plouffe writes that Obama "said if his central criterion measured who could be the best VP, she had to be included in that list. She was competent, could help in Congress, would have international bona fides and had been through this before, albeit in a different role."

As meetings continued, "Barack continued to be intrigued by Hillary. 'I still think Hillary has a lot of what I am looking for in a VP,' he said to us.... I think Bill may be too big a complication. If I picked her, my concern is that there would be more than two of us in the relationship,' " Plouffe writes in "The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory."

He and senior adviser David Axelrod were not enthused about the Democratic "dream ticket" incorporating the former first lady. "Neither Ax nor I were fans of the Hillary option," he writes. "We saw her obvious strengths, but we thought there were too many complications, both pre-election and postelection, should we be so fortunate as to win. Still, we were very careful not to object too forcefully. This needed to be his call."

Obama, of course, eventually picked then-Senator Joe Biden as his vice president and put Clinton in his cabinet as secretary of state.

UPDATE: Asked about the assertions in Plouffe's book, Clinton told CNN today, "I'm very happy with the position that I have and I think Joe Biden's doing a great job as vice president, so I think we should move on from the campaign of 2008."

Plouffe also gives his take on Republican John McCain's surprise pick of then-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate -- a choice that provided an initial boost in enthusiasm among the GOP rank-and-file, but that eventually reflected poorly on McCain as many Americans decided Palin was not qualified to be the proverbial heartbeat away from the presidency.

"Palin was a bolt of lightning, a true surprise. She was such a long shot, I didn't even have her research file on my computer, as I did for the likely McCain picks. I started Googling her, refreshing my memory while I waited for our research to be sent," Plouffe recalls.

"I also thought it was a downright bizarre, ill-considered and deeply puzzling choice," he continues. "The one thing every voter knew about John McCain's campaign at this point was that it had been shouting from the rooftops that Barack Obama lacked the experience to be President. With the Palin pick, he had completely undermined his core argument against us. Worse yet for McCain, he would look inherently political in doing so. His strength — and the threat he posed to us — was rooted in the fact that many independent voters believed in his maverick reputation and believed he did not make his decisions by prioritizing politics over what was right. I guessed people would view this choice more as a political stunt than a sound, reasoned call."

Obama was of like mind, Plouffe says, telling him, "When voters step back and analyze how he made this decision, I think he's going to be in big trouble. You just can't wing something like this - it's too important."