Dissension among Democrats, a push for election reforms and a possible lawsuit against the state were reasons the Republican-led Senate refused placing the candidates back on the ballot, said Matt Marsden, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester.

“Republicans are no longer going to sit and watch Democrats struggle with whether they want an open or closed primary,” Marsden said.

“The Republicans are going to have a primary and our candidates are participating.”

Some labor groups that have supported John Edwards wanted to block the bill because they favored a caucus, although a caucus is unlikely at this point, The Associated Press reported.

However, Senate Democrats say they were prepared to vote the candidates back on the ballot today and in time for the January primary.

“The Democrats were well prepared to take it up and we supported an earlier version of the bill,” said Tom Lenard, communications director for Senate Democratic Caucus and spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek.

“We were ready to (vote) today and (give) voters an opportunity to have a full range of options, so we’re pretty disappointed they didn’t decide to take action on that,” he said.

Marsden said the state also was threatened by a possible lawsuit from Obama if Michigan went ahead with placing his name on the ballot.

However, Steve Ross, political science senior and state of Michigan coordinator of Students for Barack Obama said he hasn’t heard of any threats coming from the Obama campaign.

“(Democrats also) have tried to attach legislation that has nothing to do with the bill at hand,” Marsden said.

“They wanted a number of different election reforms that had nothing to do with the bill. The intent of this bill was designed for a free and open primary.”

The likelihood of the candidates returning to the ballot seems dim. The secretary of state had some concerns that if the Legislature did not pass the bill this week then it couldn’t be done, Lenard said.

Secretary of State offices have said they needed enough time to print the ballots and send them overseas.

The bill, which was originally introduced and passed in the Senate, passed in the House on Monday, however was not given immediate effect for the January primary.

All of the Republican presidential candidates as well as Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, Mike Gravel, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn. remain on the state’s ballot.