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The Republican Party in its current form is “incapable” of beating Hillary Clinton if she's the Democratic nominee for president in 2016, former House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Sunday.

“If their competitor in '16 is going to be Hillary Clinton, supported by Bill Clinton and presumably, a still relatively popular President Barack Obama, trying to win that will be truly the Super Bowl,” Gingrich told NBC's “Meet the Press.” “And the Republican Party today is incapable of competing at that level.”

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Rumors about Clinton's political future have swirled since she announced her decision to step down as secretary of State early next year. Clinton has denied having such ambitions but her high approval ratings — 57 percent in the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll — all but ensure she will be a focus of speculation.

“She is married to the most popular Democrat in the country,” Gingrich said. “They both think it would be good for her to be president. That makes it virtually impossible to stop [her] nomination, I think. But when I thought she was frankly going to be the nominee in '08. And I went all through the spring of '08 thinking she would beat Obama.”

Gingrich, who fell short in his 2012 bid for the GOP nomination to Mitt Romney, was also asked if he would consider running again.

“I doubt that, but one never knows,” Gingrich answered.