Hillary Clinton was not a sure thing for secretary of state after Barack Obama’s election to the White House on Nov. 4, 2008.

In fact, Obama aides John Podesta and Rahm Emanuel thought it so likely Clinton would reject Obama’s offer to head up the State Department they considered former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota as a backup option.

“We need plan B when hrc (Clinton) says no … I would go with daschle [sic] to state”

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The surprising disclosure was made in emails between Podesta and Emanuel on Nov. 14, 2008. The emails were posted by WikiLeaks on Tuesday. They were reportedly hacked from Podesta’s Gmail account.

Podesta is today the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. He was corresponding with Obama’s top aide, Rahm Emanuel, who became White House chief of staff and is now the mayor of Chicago.

It’s an interesting twist of fate for Podesta, who said he was expecting Clinton not to accept.

“We need plan B when hrc [Clinton] says no,” Podesta said to Emanuel. “I would go with daschle to state and [Janet] napolitano to hhs [Health and Human Services].”

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Daschle was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986. He served as Senate majority leader from 2001 to 2002. He was targeted for defeat by Republicans in 2004, and lost to Republican John Thune.

Obama would ultimately nominate Daschle to be HHS secretary, but tax problems caused Daschle to withdraw.

Former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano was not named to HHS, but rather became head of Homeland Security.