WA Post: Craig's About-Face Worries GOP Colleagues

[L. Coyote]

Craig's About-Face Worries GOP Colleagues
Lawmaker Changes His Mind, Plans to Stay in Senate if Guilty Plea in Airport Arrest Is Dropped
By Paul Kane and Robert Barnes - September 6, 2007; Page A03
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/05/AR2007090502376.html?hpid=topnews


Sen. Larry E. Craig yesterday launched a campaign to save his political career, dismaying fellow Republicans with his determination to stay in the Senate if he successfully overturns his guilty plea, made after he was arrested in a sex sting in an airport men's room.

The Idaho lawmaker called Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), telling him that he plans to finish his term through 2008 if he manages to have the charges against him dismissed by Sept. 30. Meanwhile, his attorneys sought to quash an ethics committee investigation, prompting a rare public rebuff from the panel's leadership, who said that their probe will continue.

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But his new determination to fight surprised his colleagues and prompted a new round of calls that he step down.

"If he is able to get the case favorably disposed of in Minneapolis, it would be his intention to come back to the Senate . . . and to try to finish his term," McConnell told reporters after his discussion with Craig. He said he stood by his earlier comments that Craig should step down. "I thought he made the correct decision -- the difficult but correct decision to resign," McConnell said.

"Any reconsideration would be a mistake," said Sen. Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah), referring to the earlier decision to resign.

The White House pressed Craig to stick to his plan to resign.

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