Hillary Not 2016 Frontrunner? Top Romney Aide Says ‘She’ll Lose’ Democratic Primary

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton can’t seem to stay out of the spotlight, becoming the object of the GOP Benghazi outrage with calls for her to return for more hearings, as well as Senator Rand Paul suggesting that Benghazi should “preclude her from running for higher office.” Now, she is being counted out of even winning a 2016 Democratic Primary: by former senior adviser to Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign Stuart Stevens.

Stevens, whose been criticized for convincing Romney to go with the strategy of betting on the economy being so bad that Obama would lose, spoke with reporters at a National Review sponsored breakfast, predicted Hillary Clinton is not as much a sure thing as early pundits think.

I would predict that if Hillary Clinton runs, she’ll lose the primary.

Stevens also suggested Clinton’s several decades of political service would be a negative:

She’s been around since the ’70s. It’s very rare that we go back a generation. And you know, unless we nominate Bob Dole, we won’t be going back a generation.

On which Democrat will beat her, Stevens tossed out one name, moderate Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, also urging other Democrats to compete with her.

If I was a Democratic hot-shot politician, I would primary her so fast

Stevens also pointed to Clinton’s original support for the Iraq War, her coming out for gay marriage after Republican Senator Rob Portman, and her leadership on Benghazi as factors going against her potential bid to become the first female president.

Follow Jordan Chariton (@JordanChariton) on Twitter