How to remove initial empty value for a dropdown attribute in Magento?
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I'm using Magento version 1.5.1.0.  I added an attribute with the following options selected in the Properties tab:


    Catalog input type for store owner: dropdown
    Unique value: no
    Values required: no
    
I then went to the Manage Label/Options tab and added 3 different options, selecting the first option as a default.  I added it to an attribute set, and when I go to enter a product, I see the dropdown, but with an empty option value prepended to it:

    <option selected="selected"></option>
    <option>Option 1</option>
    <option>Option 2</option>
    <option>Option 3</option>

When I save the product, the empty option still remains selected.  How do I remove that empty option and make Option 1 the default for all of my existing products without resorting to using JS?