>The value in the field is blank

Okay. That's where the blank in the combo is coming from. It's a "phantom" I guess is one way to describe it. It's not really in the list, but it's like the list is "the list plus the value in the field if the field value is not in the list."

Updated:
Hm. Okay. I just tried it and I'm not able to duplicate the problem. I could have sworn that the list used to show a blank if the field was blank and there wasn't a blank in the list. But I tried it in 7.0 and 6.0 SP 5 and I don't see the behavior. I ask another follow up.