If history is any guide, Hillary Clinton will not be the next President of the United States. There is one thing that all elected U.S. Presidents over the last forty years have in common (besides gender) and that is they all lost political races prior to becoming President. Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II all suffered the agony of losing a political race. I do not believe that this is a coincidence. It seems through losing they ended up winning. Like most people they learned from their mistakes.

The top-tier presidential candidates this time around with the exception of Hillary all suffered political defeat as well. Romney in 1994, Rudy in 1989, McCain in 2000, Obama in 2000, and Edwards in 2004. Whether Hillary can overcome this factor remains to be seen (as she already had one competitive race), but I would not be surprised if it hurts her.