She’s an corporate enigma wrapped in a political riddle. Nobody gave much thought to Donna Lynne becoming a Democratic candidate for governor, but now she is.

Why would we? On a heavy snow day in March last year, she stepped to the microphone in the West Foyer of the Capitol to be introduced by Gov. John Hickenlooper as the lieutenant governor, a replacement for Joe Garcia who left to head up the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.

Hickenlooper brought in a problem-solver with a good personality and a keen understanding of the business world, someone like him.

After Lynne said a piece, she took questions from reporters. After all the smart reporters asked all the good questions, I asked if she intended to run for governor when John Hickenlooper’s days were done.

Nope, she had no plans to do that, Lynne said convincingly. The headline above my story in the Denver Post stated less convincingly, “Governor’s lieutenant governor nominee won’t seek higher office.”

Things changed, including Lynne’s plans. That’s not to say the former healthcare industry executive has changed at all. She’s still Donna. Democrats and Republicans are telling me that, so it has to be true, right?

On the day she was formally introduced to the Capitol, then Senate President Bill Cadman, who is as Republican as wing-tipped shoes, told me, “She’ll be just what the doctor ordered.” Healthcare executive, get it? I miss Cadman.

When Ed Perlmutter exited the governor’s race, well-informed Republicans assumed Polis was the de facto nominee in a crowded and qualified field.

Polis is the bettor’s pick right now for good reason. He has lots of money. He has political friends who have lots of money. He has name recognition practically growing out of his ears. And as far as personality goes, in a state that loves aw-shucks guys who remind us what we liked about John Denver, it’s hard not to like Jared.

But Polis also checks a lot of boxes for Republican operatives to fire up the party’s electorally important factions, some of whom have lots of money, too. Polis is an easier target than Lynne for Trump conservatives who feel energized, empowered and eager to get busy draining the swamp again.

He’s spent millions of his own money to urge tightening rules on fracking. He wants Colorado to get all its energy from renewables, none of it from coal, oil or gas. He’s from Boulder. He’s a member of Congress. He’s a gay parent. He’s one of the four limousine liberals who used their money and activism to drive the Democratic Party back to prominence and turn Colorado purple.

Lynne has a cleaner slate, but she’s someone we’re not sure we know yet.

We know she brings business chops that moderates respect and opposing candidates have to think about. Polis is proven stuff, however – a guy who made hundreds of millions in the tech economy, a guy who doesn’t like regulations. He got rich off flowers. He didn’t put them in gun barrels during anti-war protests.

“Jared Polis is a unique leader that understands the future of Colorado’s economy,” Polid ally David C. Cohen, the CEO of TechStars, told me for this column. “Many of us in the business and start-up communities could not be more excited to have a candidate in Jared Polis who not only has the experience of starting several successful businesses, but also takes bold positions on the most important issues facing us today, from education and infrastructure to protecting the quality of life that drives Colorado’s business climate.”

The struggle for the moderate middle is just starting, but Lynne has a line on people looking for a seemingly apolitical outsider from the business world, like Hickenlooper or, heck, Trump.

I missed this year’s Club 20 gathering in Grand Junction, but a story made it back across the Continental Divide.

After Lynne finished her lunch speech that Saturday, Republican state Sen. Don Coram of Montrose told her from the audience that the day she was sworn in last year was his birthday. Coram said he was hoping he would get Hick’s pick, instead of her, as a present.

Lynne joked back that he might still get the chance. (Her boss, after all, has been paling around with Republicans, and who knows where that’s going to lead.)

A bipartisan dealmaker who strengthened moderate Republican voting in the Senate, Coram told me later it was all fun and games. He enjoys Lynne as a person and finds her to be a very moderate leader who’s easy to work with, even if he doesn’t play for the same political team.

“If you’re extremely  far to the left or extremely far to the right, you can’t get anything done, so what’s the point?” Coram told me. “We’re elected to get things done.”

But the politics ….

“Oh, I don’t give a damn about the politics. I had a good life before I got into politics, so I’m going to try to do what’s right.”