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Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has withdrawn from the Michigan Democratic primary ballot. The reason given was that he had recently signed a pledge promising to stand with New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina and the Democratic National Committee-approved “early window” and the action he was taking protects New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary status and Nevada’s early caucus.
“We support the grassroots nature of the New Hampshire, small-state primary and we support the diversity efforts that Chairman (Howard) Dean and the DNC instituted last year when they added Nevada and South Carolina to the window in January 2008,” Kucinich said. “We are obviously committed to New Hampshire’s historic role.”
Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, and Joe Biden have also said they will skip the Michigan primary.
Like Kucinich, Biden said his decision is a pledge to respect the primary calendar established by the Democratic National Committee.
“Every campaign made a pledge to the four early states to support the calendar created by the DNC that placed a premium on retail politics and provided a level playing field for candidates, regardless of money or celebrity,” said Biden for President Campaign Manager Luis Navarro.
Biden’s campaign also took Hillary Clinton and Chris Dodd to task for not dropping out of the primary, saying they have “abandoned Democrats in Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina.”