This morning, former Democratic State Rep. Karen Middleton announced she was withdrawing from the 6th Congressional District race, marking the second woman to be publicly pushed out of the race in favor of the Anointed One, former State House Speaker Andrew Romanoff.

For all the rhetoric Colorado Democrats spew on women’s rights they sure don’t seem to think women are right to run for high office.

Reports The Denver Post‘s Kurtis Lee:

Former Democratic state Rep. Karen Middleton on Monday withdrew her name from consideration for a run in the 6th Congressional District — a move that, for now, leaves no primary challengers to former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff who announced his candidacy earlier this month.

Middleton told The Denver Post that because of the McCain–Feingold Act — a federal campaign finance law — there would be a conflict with her potential candidacy and her current role as president of the 527 political organization Emerge America.

“I’m not going to leave this organization,” said Middleton. “And if I were to run for office I would be subjecting the organization to limits on fundraising that are similar to what candidates face.”

The campaign finance excuse is pure, unadulterated BS. If there was a conflict, she could simply leave the organization. Plenty of candidates have done that before. Middleton’s husband told the Peak it’s because they can’t afford for Middleton to leave the job. That seems to us a weak argument, as Middleton had no problem pulling in a paltry $30k a year as a state legislator, and if she won, she would be making $174,000 as a Congresswoman.

The campaign finance smokescreen seems to us a pathetic ploy to detract from the unhelpful narrative that once again Colorado Democrats are sticking with “their guy” in favor of anointing a woman to run for high office.

To be fair, women are underrepresented in both parties high offices in Colorado, with no woman ever being elected to U.S. Senator or Governor in this state’s history.

But it strikes us as particularly notable among Democrats, who formed their campaign rhetoric this last election around the notion that Republicans were bad for women, trying to steal the pill from their purse, and Democrats were the ones in their corner.

Turns out they may be in women’s corner in campaign ads, just not candidate selection.