Dennis Kucinich was not going to become President anyway. We all knew it. He knew it.

But with the withdrawal from the race by the peace-supporting, UFO-spotting, impeachment-invoking former Cleveland "boy mayor," there is nobody on the national stage advocating a universal, single-payer healthcare system.

Not that many people think such a plan (despite its use in Canada, England and other countries) is politically viable in U.S., where entrenched interests of doctors, insurers and drug companies keep politicians on a short leash.

But it's useful to have the outliers on the playing field.

Just as Republican candidates can be understood partly by where they stand relative to right-flanker Ron Paul, Democrat candidates could be viewed according to how close they were to Kucinich.

So what effect does the government-run plan have on the political dynamic among the remaining candidates? An excellent article on the universal, single-payer plan in the Wall Street Journal helps explain.