This is big. This is not a “nudge, nudge, wink, wink, we’re not campaigning here” thing. They have pulled their names from the ballot.

These candidates, particularly Obama and Edwards, have just made the Michigan primary irrelevant.

Hillary is still in there, but now she is competing against herself there, and all she can do is lose. My guess is that either Kucinich or Gravel will break double digits, which will likely be perceived as a loss for Clinton.

Personally, I’d like to see Dodd do well, he’s my favorite of the lower tier candidates.

The delegates won’t matter. It’s who wins the “real” primaries in this front loaded system that count, because the process is even more front loaded than it was in 2004, and it was done in a month.

This is a good move for the party and for the primaries.