Could Hillary Be the Next Vice President?

Sure, Hillary Clinton has made it sound like there's no way she'll be President Obama's running mate in 2012. But no doesn't mean no "when politicians say it," writes Jonathan Alter at Bloomberg. Bob Woodward said last year that a Clinton-Biden job trade was "on the table"; now, an Obama friend in Chicago tells Alter that Woodward was right. Alter's conclusion: "With the economy worse and the president as the self-described underdog, I’d say the odds are long—but it’s definitely not impossible."

It's not a move Obama, Biden, or Clinton would want to make—but they're politicians, willing to do what's necessary, and they see a major GOP threat. If they make the swap, the Democrats could say, "Vote for Obama if you want the Clinton economy back. Vote for Romney if you want the Bush economy back"—a pretty "compelling" argument, Alter writes. Such switches have occurred in the past, and Biden has wanted the secretary of state job for decades. "If it’s clear that Democrats need to do something dramatic to avoid losing the White House, the Switcheroo will happen." Click through for the full article. (More Hillary Clinton stories.)