February 27, 2014 09:33 AM UTC

Amy Stephens Drops Out of Senate Race with Silly Story

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• by: Colorado Pols

The news is certainly not unexpected after yesterday's flurry of activity, but Rep. Amy Stephens lays on the bullshit pretty thick with Lynn Bartels of the Denver Post:

State Rep. Amy Stephens was in the midst of a fundraiser Monday night for her Senate bid when she got a text message from her close friend, U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner…

…Ultimately, Stephens said, she decided to do what she thought was best for the Republican Party and for Colorado.

"I told Cory 'I think you're the great uniter. I think you come to the table with resources quadruple of Ken and me and everyone else.' I said 'I do not want to divide this party,'" she said.

The other leading candidate in the Senate race, state Sen. Owen Hill of Colorado Springs, has said he is not leaving the race and he accused Gardner of cutting backroom deals. [Pols emphasis]

We understand what Stephens is trying to do here, of course, but it's a little too late. Both Ken Buck and Owen Hill were apparently aware that Gardner was maneuvering to enter the race for several weeks. So either Stephens and her staff are completely clueless to what is happening around them, or she's selling a story to help spin Gardner's "backroom deal," as Hill calls it. If you believe Stephens story, she didn't know about any of this until Monday evening, at which point Gardner was calling all of the candidates and everyone was holding hands and singing Kumbaya and uniting behind one candidate (except for Hill, of course).

And that doesn't even take us to Stephens' quote above, where she says, "I do not want to divide this party." Riiigght. Like you were bringing everyone together with your late-2013 entry into an already crowded field of candidates. Sure.

Stephens' spin aside, she departs the U.S. Senate race with her political reputation in tatters and no realistic chance at running for higher office again anytime soon. Her brief foray into the Senate race was an unmitigated disaster; this was someone whom Republican insiders were hoping could carry their Party's flag through November, and then she went out in her first fundraising period and laid a colossal egg. Oh, and she was attacked repeatedly by Republicans over 'Amycare' every step of the way. So that worked out well.