There was actually a pretty detailed story about this in my local daily newspaper, surprised the heck out of me!

Arguments were made that there had only been '8 planets' traditionally, so it was "traditional" to go back to eight planets and consign Pluto and the other trans-Neptunian objects to the status of... well, that wasn't determined, but the model was what happened when 19th century astronomers discovered the Asteroids were numerous -- and very small -- and therefore couldn't be 'planets'.

In effect, the Kuiper Belt becomes an Outer Asteroid Belt, with objects much larger than the inner Asteroid Belt, but with similar dynamics.

I was surprised to see such a detailed article in the local paper. I guess the topic is hot!