Sarah Palin is the reason why Mitt Romney won't pick a woman as his running mate.

Kimberly Atkins says in the Boston Herald there are a number of extremely qualified women who could be the #2 on the ticket - Condoleeza Rice, Nikki Haley, Kelly Ayotte. But, after the disastrous run of Sarah Palin in 2008, Romney will most likely play it safe and make a boring pick.

Being a woman in the world of politics was a hard enough endeavor to begin with. But now we are feeling the full brunt of the additional Palin Factor: Whatever a candidate’s political liabilities may be, they seem somehow amplified by the lack of a Y chromosome.

And for all Palin’s failures, there is no question that she was also a victim of sexism. Politics is a full-contact sport, but for women the attacks are extra-personal. How much have we heard about Palin’s hotness, or Hillary Clinton’s pantsuits, or Nancy Pelosi’s alleged fondness for Botox? Newsflash: Here in Washington, the men’s foreheads don’t move, either. But that goes unnoticed.

Who could blame any woman for not wanting to win the veepstakes?

But no need to worry — no woman is in the running. They’ve come a long way in politics, but they suffered a U-turn a few years back.