Obama campaign spokesman denies any talk of replacing Biden with Clinton

The press secretary for President Obama's reelection campaign panned a report that an Obama administration official and former President Clinton urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to replace Vice President Biden on the Democratic ticket.

The report came in a new book, The Amateur, by Ed Klein. On Friday Obama campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt said there was never any effort to replace Biden with Clinton.

"That information is about as credible as Mr. Klein's book," LaBolt said in a segment on Fox News set to air Friday evening. "You know, Mr. Klein's latest book he's invented an entirely fictional dialogue that President Clinton and Secretary Clinton had in their home in Chappaqua [N.Y.] where he wasn't present. Everyone has denied the substance of that book."

LaBolt's comments come at the end of a tough week for Biden. The vice president received attention for a number of statements that resulted in strong criticism and suggestions by opponents that President Obama might better be served with Hillary Clinton as vice president.

But LaBolt said any talk of replacing Biden on the ticket was just made up by the press.

"This was a media driven narrative. The vice president has been absolutely essential governing partner for the president and running mate out on there on the campaign trail," LaBolt said. "He can lay out the stakes for the middle class in this election like few others. And he's absolutely essential to our ticket."

The Obama administration has said repeatedly that Biden will be on the 2012 Democratic presidential ticket.