Um NO. Sorry to upset your GOP-E bashing but try to know what you are talking about before you prattle on.
The field was cleared for her, only 1 guy opposed her for the nomination, some nobody whom nobody supported. The entire party is behind her, her nomination was a foregone conclusion. So is her election in November, Matheson is retiring because she scared him out of the race.
As was suggested by another FReeper, I think Matheson is stepping down now to preserve his viability for 2016 in order to run against Sen. Mike Lee (since the RINO establishment will do all it can to take him down, and if they can’t primary him, they’ll back Matheson).
Impy, don’t be so naïve. Just because the Utah GOP has a system that made it possible for Mia Love to get 78% in the state convention, thus allowing her to avoid a primary for the second election in a row, and now she will face a second-tier Democrat instead of the popular incumbent, thus making her election a certainty, doesn’t mean that the whole thing isn ‘t a plot by the GOPe to make her a conservative superstar in Congress, serve for four years, then get elected to the Senate to replace Hatch, become a conservative superstar in the Senate, and then, when she runs for president and wins the GOP nomination by acclamation, bring up the fact that her parents were not born in the U.S. and convince enough masochist “Birthers” to vote for “real Natural-Born Citizen” Chelsea Clinton for president, which, of course, is what the GOPe wanted all along. Can’t you see what’s in front of your face, Impy?