Biden was offered Secretary Of State Job, says his wife

Washington, Jan.20 (ANI): Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President-elect Joe Biden, has suggested that her husband Joe was offered his choice of either the V.P. slot or the job of Secretary of State in the Obama administration.

The soon-to-be-veep shushed his wife immediately after she made the statement on the Oprah Winfrey show, prompting laughter from the audience.

Obama's one time rival Hillary Clinton was eventually offered the job.

Jill Biden said during the couple's surprise appearance on Oprah that she preferred that her husband be vice president rather than secretary of state, since it would mean less travel, CBS reports.

"If you're secretary of state, you'll be away, we'll never see you, you know," she said, characterizing her conversation with her husband. "I'll see you at a state dinner once and awhile. But I said, if you are vice president, the entire family, because they worked so hard for the election, they can be involved. They can come to our home. They can go to events, they can be with us all the time. And that's what's important to us."

Biden didn't address his wife's comments, but did say he agreed to be Obama's running mate after being assured that the president-elect was not looking for a "yes man."

Later Biden spokesperson Elizabeth Alexander sent reporters a statement insisting that "President-elect Obama offered Vice President-elect Biden one job only -- to be his running mate." (ANI)