Carla Stovall’s exit from the Kansas governor’s race has left a lot of Republicans shaking their heads.

“I must tell you that she hasn’t been real excited about the governorship from day one,” Larry Steckline, a friend of Atty. Gen. Carla Stovall’s, said on Monday.

A few hours later, Stovall confirmed that assessment, saying she would withdraw from the governor’s race because she did “not have the passion or commitment” for another statewide campaign or to serve as governor.

At least some of those who have met with Stovall during the campaign would confirm that the attorney general had little enthusiasm for the race. She seemed to lack the focus, drive and clear convictions on which to base a campaign for governor. Her decision to simply shrug off her campaign at this relatively late stage of the game is, nonetheless, stunning to Kansas political observers.

And it can be no less stunning to the other moderate Republicans who considered running for governor and decided to step aside to clear the path for Stovall. Although they won’t announce their plans until later in the week, Stovall’s running mate, House Speaker Kent Glasscock, and Lt. Gov. Gary Sherrer both are said to be reconsidering their decisions not to seek the top spot. On Monday, Stovall urged Republicans to support Glasscock’s candidacy. Glasscock reportedly was seen filming campaign commercials in the capital over the weekend, and it seems likely he will make the race.

Any candidate who enters the race now will start out several steps behind the pack. Stovall said Monday that she had considered dropping out of the race in early January. But instead, she let moderate Kansas Republicans put all of their eggs in her campaign basket even though her heart wasn’t in the race.

“It was never there to begin with,” she said Monday.

So what was she thinking? Did she not consider whether she had the drive and commitment to run for governor before she announced her candidacy? What were the other moderate Republicans who stepped aside to let her take the lead thinking? On what did they base their decision? The state GOP already was in disarray, but Stovall’s flaky exit seems to confirm that the party is without strong leadership or even adequate knowledge of its leading candidates.

There was considerable discussion last week about Stovall’s relationship with Steckline, with whom she was traveling in Ukraine. Although some speculated the attorney general was getting out of the race in order to get married, she insisted on Monday that her decision not to run had nothing to do with her relationship with Steckline.

Fine. Stovall has decided that she and the governor’s office weren’t a good match. It simply wasn’t meant to be. So she’ll just get on with her life and let everyone else clean up the political mess she’s created.

Maybe she’ll get married; maybe not. Before she takes that step, perhaps she’d better make sure she isn’t lacking the necessary “passion or commitment.”