Beset by scandal, Craig sees his Senate clout evaporate
By Erika Bolstad | McClatchy Newspapers
* Posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2007
WASHINGTON — Sen. Larry Craig had plenty to say about the global warming bill that was being debated by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
But after nearly three decades in public life and at a time when he should be at the height of his influence and power, the Idaho Republican had to wait his turn. Senate protocol put him at the bottom of the list, after even the most junior U.S. senator, John Barrasso of Wyoming, a Republican who was appointed this summer.
In the span of a week after the news broke late this summer that he'd been arrested in a sex sting at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, Craig saw his political status and personal reputation plummet.
Pressured to resign, he stayed on. But he was forced to surrender his leadership posts on several Senate committees and to watch as his GOP colleagues called for an ethics investigation into his behavior.
He's rallied by mounting a public relations blitz, including a prime-time interview on NBC. He's hired a high-profile Washington defense attorney to fight an uphill battle to withdraw his guilty plea in Minnesota courts.
Despite all that effort and expense, Craig has yet to regain his reputation or his political standing in the Senate. Instead of being known for his accomplishments, such as his party-defying take on immigration, he's now known for a toe-tapping incident in a men's room stall and for being too stubborn to leave Congress.
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