Sources Say Clinton Has a Job Lined Up for Joe Biden

In a rearrangement of roles that would only be complete if President Obama became vice president, Hillary Clinton is rumored to be considering Joe Biden for her secretary of state if she becomes president. A source tells Politico that Clinton, who ran against both Obama and Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2008, was at the top of her shortlist. The source says Clinton hasn't actually spoken to Biden about the role yet. "He'd be great, and they are spending a lot of time figuring out the best way to try to persuade him to do it if she wins," says the source, who's on Clinton's transition team, according to Politico.

NBC News says a "trusted source" has confirmed that Biden is being considered for the post. Biden has the foreign policy chops—he has served as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—but a source close to the vice president says that after the death of his son Beau, the cancer "moonshot" initiative is his main priority. The source says Biden would want the initiative to continue unchanged even if he became Clinton's secretary of state. Politico notes that another problem could be their differing stances: During Clinton's years as secretary of state, she took a more hawkish line than him on issues including intervention in Libya and leaving troops in Iraq. (More Joe Biden stories.)