Dan Pfeiffer: President Never Considered Replacing Biden

President Barack Obama and his 2012 presidential campaign never "seriously considered" replacing Vice President Joe Biden with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the ballot, the president's top strategist, Dan Pfeiffer says.

"Research is done on a lot of things," Pfeiffer told ABC's "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos. "This was never taken to the president. I can tell you, no one in the campaign as well as the president ever seriously considered this in any way, shape, or form."

In the book "Double Down," a new book on the 2012 campaign, says Obama's top aides considered the notion but decided not to pursue it because it did not materially improve Obama's odds.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney this week also disputed the notion, but Pfeiffer insisted Sunday that he agrees with a statement made by former Chief of Staff Bill Daley, who said that the proposal wasn't taken to Obama, and if it had, the person would have been "thrown out of the office" no matter what research showed.

Pfeiffer, who admitted that he did not read the controversial book, also said disclosures concerning the president's doubts about going into debates with Republican candidate Mitt Romney aren't the first leaks to come from the White House.

"We are not the first White House to deal with leaks," said Pfeiffer. "Every White House has dealt with it. I think we have been more leak-free than most, and where we find them, we try to stop them."

And Obama is "always frustrated about leaks," Pfeiffer said. He said he hasn't talked to the president about the book, but "he hates leaks. Everyone hates leaks."

Pfeiffer said he does not know who leaked the information for the book, but "anyone who leaks has to pay the price."

The book, which was penned journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, will be released on Tuesday but some of its contents have already been reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post.

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