Senior administration and Democratic officials sought to squelch the report, saying the idea may have been put out as a trial balloon but that there was no real plan underway. One official said the idea of Gibbs moving to the DNC has been discussed informally, but not in any high-level meetings and was something of an “out-of-the-box” idea. A second official said it has been “vaguely” discussed but is “not currently under active consideration.”

Asked whether the White House is at all dissatisfied with Kaine’s performance, a senior administration official said “no.”…

If Gibbs moved to the DNC, sources said, he would bring several attributes: experience speaking on television and a close relationship with Obama. But they cautioned that he may not be the best fit for a job that requires a lot of fundraising, cross-country travel and building relationships with a vast array of constituencies. For instance, Gibbs has had a fraught relationship with the party’s liberal base, admonishing it recently as the “professional left.”