Golden drops out, old news or not?

Being that I recently completed moving and am a little behind on campaign news, I'm not sure if this is old news, but Debi Golden's website has a message stating she is dropping out of the 48th district Senate race due, essentially, to Rodney Tom's candidacy. An excerpt:

"What I had not counted on or planned for was a pointless but nonetheless expensive and contested primary. Instead, I had wanted to spend the next months running against Luke Esser on the issues that he and I disagree on, and not running in a primary where the differences between the candidates are less stark. Such a primary would only increase the chances of Esser's reelection.

I have therefore decided not to run. I have called Rodney Tom and told him of my decision and wished him luck."

By saying this I mean no personal disrespect to Golden, but anybody who thinks they have a right to a general election berth without having to first win a primary should not run for office. Nobody has a right to be an anointed candidate, even if it means knocking off a couple frequent candidate nutcases along the way. In my opinion a hotly-contested primary can be a good thing for the winner even if it means having to spend resources that would otherwise be earmarked for the general election. If both candidates are civil, a primary can be a boost to a candidacy and only turn into a negative if candidates go negative and try to smear their opponents (see the current California Democratic gubernatorial primary, for instance). That said, I'm not mad at Golden dropping out as it ensures that my preference, libertarian centrist Rodney Tom, is now uncontested for the Democratic nomination. I won't, however, bellyache if he draws another challenger in Golden's place.