The announcement earlier this week that Denver’s chief financial officer Cary Kennedy would be stepping down from her city position to start a consulting business had politicos speculating about gubernatorial matters.

Kennedy, who lost a bid for re-election as state treasurer in 2010, has been Mayor Michael Hancock’s deputy mayor since 2011 and was one of his first appointments when he won office — a notable hire because she’d supported rival candidate former state Sen. Chris Romer in a hard-fought campaign against Hancock — but she’s also been considered one of the Democrats’ top prospects for governor in 2018.

Other Democrats who have said privately they’d like to run or have been mentioned as potential candidates include U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter and former U.S. Sen. and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. (Salazar allies, however, have been hinting recently that there could be another office in his future — speculation swirls he might be a running mate for the Democratic presidential candidate or a Supreme Court nominee.)

But there’s a powerful group of Democrats — led by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette — who have been saying for years that it’s time Colorado Democrats elect a woman as governor or senator, and Kennedy could be the leading candidate in two years. So far, she isn’t ruling it out, though she says she’s leaving the city job in order to spend more time with her children before they leave for college.

The word that Kennedy was leaving her post briefly excited some Capitol denizens on Monday, although when they heard it was Cary Kennedy and not Japanese Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, they calmed down. It seems Gov. John Hickenlooper has had his eye on the ambassadorship to Japan for some time and might decamp for the Land of the Rising Sun if the position becomes open.