Report: Hillary First Rejected Obama Post, Worried About Bill's 'Penchant for Controversy'

When Barack Obama asked Hillary Clinton to become his secretary of state, she first turned down the job. She later accepted, of course, but was reportedly worried about the effect her husband's "penchant for controversy" would have on a role that would require the utmost diplomacy, loyalty and discretion.

That and other revelations about the Democratic and Republican 2008 presidential campaigns will be the subject of CBS's "60 Minutes" this Sunday when Anderson Cooper interviews political reporters Mark Halperin and John Heilemann about their book, "Game Change."

Halperin and Heilemann interviewed more than 200 people involved the historic election, many of whom were directly involved in the Democratic campaigns that pitted the highest profile African-American candidate in history against the first former first lady to run for the job.

In an interview for "60 Minutes," Heilemann recounts the story of Obama calling Clinton to ask her to reconsider taking the job as his secretary of state. "Clinton told him there was a problem," says Heilemann, a New York magazine reporter. "At that point she says, 'There's one last thing that's a problem, which is my husband. You've seen what this is like; it will be a circus if I take this job.'"

Halperin, who writes for Time Magazine, says, "It's this extraordinary moment . . . Clinton saying something she says to almost no one, admitting her husband is a problem. At the same time, Obama comes back and shows vulnerability to her. He says to her, 'Given the economic crisis, given all I have to deal with, I need your help.'"