Four leading candidates - Barack Obama, John Edwards, Joe Biden and Bill Richardson - have pulled their names from the Michigan primary ballot, because the state is insisting on holding its Democratic primary in January, in violation of national party rules.
Michigan has had its delegates stripped off it by the Democratic National Committee, while candidates are forbidden from campaigning there. Polls show Hillary Clinton strongly in the lead, so there was little to be gained for the others by staying in. Clinton has left her name on the ballot.
Update: Dennis Kucinich says he filed the paperwork to have his name removed from the ballot, but the Michigan secretary of state's office said he hadn't. Meanwhile, the Detroit Free Press opines that the mass pull-out could affect the result of the Republican primary.
