Big Names Withdraw from Primary

There's no doubt about it, this presidential primary season is bizarre. It started hugely early, with a large slate of candidates on both sides. We've been inundated with news of the horse race, with numerous debates, all with 8-10 lecterns.

As I've said before, I think all of this early activity stems from Bush Fatigue, an uncommonly bi-partisan affliction. This has led several states to push up their primary elections or caucuses, earlier and earlier in 2008. Unfortunately, in their jockeying for position, some states have broken party rules, and now they're being called on their bluff.

Thankfully, my state of Nevada moved theirs up before this all started to go nuts, so we're grandfathered in a way. Our early primary will allow Nevada to have a deciding vote in the primaries for the first time.

[Excerpt]

Big names withdraw from Michigan primary

What if a state held a presidential primary election and nobody came?Michigan may be about to find out.

Half of the Democratic presidential candidates withdrew from Michigan's Jan. 15 primary Tuesday, leaving Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York as the only top-tier candidate still on the ballot and effectively ending Michigan's hopes of cutting in near the head of the primary lineup. . .

Read the rest at: LATimes.com