CLAWSON, Mich -- The law of unintended consequences has thrown the book at Dennis Kucinich and sentenced him to 15 minutes of fame.

How else to explain how a single-digit candidate, ignored by the news media, dismissed as marginal by opponents and dropped from a televised debate, tries unsuccessfully to pull out of this state's abortive Democratic primary and, instead, ends up as queen of a broken prom?

Quick history: Mr. Kucinich, a Democratic congressman from Cleveland best known for his hardline opposition to the Iraq War, front line promotion of national health insurance and his sometimes exotic views on everything from spirituality to UFOs, tried to drop out. He was not alone. All of the Democratic candidates had pledged not to campaign here after the Democratic National Committee sanctioned Michigan's party for moving its primary up to Jan. 15 in violation of party rules.

Most of the candidates -- Hillary Rodham Clinton a notable exception -- pulled their names from the ballot. Mr. Kucinich tried. He really did.

"To me, it seemed easy enough," he said yesterday. "Just don't file petitions."

But this is Michigan, meaning things are rarely as they seem. Write-in votes must be pre-approved by candidates. Democrats are allowed to vote with the Republicans. Toyota is now the No. 2 American automaker.

To not get on the ballot, a candidate has to file papers. Mr. Kucinich says he sent a signed letter saying he didn't want to be on the ballot. It was rejected.

"When they refused it, I decided I would take it as a sign," Mr. Kucinich said.

So, a congressman from Ohio who posted 1 percent in the New Hampshire primary is the sole Democrat on the ground here, and he's drawing crowds, if only for the novelty.

Yesterday, Mr. Kucinich church-hopped across the Detroit metro area. He showed up at Plymouth United Church of Christ, swung by Second Ebenezer Baptist, held court at St. Andrew's Episcopal. He even did late lunch at a hotel called the St. Regis.

When last spotted, he was headed to a Hindu Temple, a private fund-raiser and a speech before a like-minded crowd at the Justice Caucus fund-raising dinner.

Mrs. Clinton might be the presumptive favorite, and Barack Obama's camp is pushing to pin her ears back by urging people to vote "uncommitted," but whenever the press here needs a Demo-quote, Dennis Kucinich cannot be avoided for comment.

"It's the antithesis of an election," Mr. Kucinich said of the Obama "uncommitted" strategy. "I mean, people going in to vote and not making a choice?"

Mr. Kucinich offers no illusions about winning tomorrow's Democratic primary. In truth, nobody wins, beyond the popularity contest, because the DNC has stripped Michigan of all 156 of its convention delegates.

But Mr. Kucinich is convinced that if he can turn a ballot for him into the protest vote over a flummoxed primary, he can also push his messages on everything from the Iraq War to the North American Free Trade Agreement to U.S. industrial policy.

"People say 'Are you electable?' " the vegetarian Mr. Kucinich said over a plate of pasta, squash and zucchini. "I tell them, 'Yes, I am -- if you vote for me.' "

It remains to be seen whether Michiganders will vote for Mr. Kucinich. Turn out for him, they will.

Hundreds packed into St. Andrew's in this Detroit suburb to cheer him.

"He's the only nurse on the battlefield in Crimea right now. He's the only one talking to us," said Mike Whitty, a business professor at University of Detroit Mercy and a Kucinich supporter.

In a succession of appearances, one a visit in mid-service at Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ in Detroit, Mr. Kucinich drew heavily on both his economic agenda as well as liberal quotations from the Gospel of St. Matthew.

" 'When I was hungry, did you feed me, when I was homeless did you shelter me,' are the spiritual principle that our leaders should be guided by, and I humbly accept that as my personal responsibility," Mr. Kucinich said.

At Greater Emmanuel, an overwhelmingly African-American congregation, Mr. Kucinich made a point of connecting with U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and shaking hands with him in front of the congregation.

The congregation's pastor made a point of telling worshippers that it was fine to vote for Mr. Kucinich if he was their man, but pointedly added, "I want to urge you that if you should choose to vote for one of those persons who are not on the ballot, to vote uncommitted."

At the predominantly white St. Andrew's, in a suburb outside of Detroit, rector Harry Cook did little to hide his enthusiasm for Mr. Kucinich. The audience could be read by the bumper stickers in the church parking lot: "Impeach Bush," "Create Peace," "Jesus: the Original Liberal." Mr. Kucinich's unique position as the exclusive Democratic candidate available to cover was told in the dissonance of the sign on one vehicle: "Fox News."

Mr. Kucinich held the audience by using language freighted with spiritual references.

"Our lives belong not only to ourselves but each other," he said. At another juncture he referred to "the imperative of human unity" and threw in a Latin reference, "Spiritus Mundi."

"If the Democratic Party has a big failing," he explained in an interview afterward, "it's not understanding the role of spirit in politics. They confuse it with separation of church and state and because of that we take a secular approach which is barren, and therefore lose people."

There is no guarantee that Mr. Kucinich's head-on spirituality will capture anyone, even if he is running solo.

"Just among the people I know in the Democratic Party, most of them don't take his candidacy seriously," said Bob Frei, a key player in the Gladwin County Democrats in central Michigan. "My guess is that most if not a large -- at least a large minority -- are probably going to vote uncommitted. That would just be my guess."

Mr. Frei says he's likely to vote uncommitted. His daughter likes Mr. Kucinich, but she lives in Alexandria, Va.