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WASHINGTON - She sounds increasingly like a presidential contender, but as Hillary Clinton mulls a run, Republicans are taking aim at her record in a bid to smother the momentum building around her prospective campaign.

With critics dragging her into the political fray before she has announced 2016 plans, Team Clinton is pushing back against Republican storylines that she may not be fit for another gruelling White House race, and that she was an ineffectual secretary of state crafting her own political future instead of advancing US interests.

Hillary, hawking a new memoir, insisted she adeptly handled an "endless set of tough calls" as the top US diplomat, prodding Iran into nuclear talks and nudging the Mideast peace process forward.

Republicans see it differently.

"History will judge" her record, Senator Bob Corker, top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told AFP.

Below are issues that could be Clinton's Achilles' heels, and the defence she is building against them.

- Health -

Clinton would be 69 should she win in 2016, younger only than president Ronald Reagan when he first took office.

Republicans tiptoed around the subject -- until strategist Karl Rove attacked Clinton's health head on last week, suggesting she suffered traumatic brain injury from a 2012 fall.

Her husband, former president Bill Clinton, insisted she works out regularly and is in "better shape" than him. And while he said there was nothing to Rove's charge, the ex-president acknowledged a candidate's health is fair game in national campaigns.

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As Hillary Clinton touts record, Republicans criticise it