The Trouble With Larry

Like the body that refuses to quietly disappear in the Hitchcock classic, the scandal involving Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) and what he did or did not solicit in a men's room at the Minneapolis airport simply will not go away. Roll Call has the audio of a voicemail message that Craig inadvertently left at a wrong number on his way to the Saturday news conference to announce his resignation. In the call, Craig implores Billy (whoever that is) to make "as bold a statement as you are comfortable with" to show that Craig is "willing to fight and [has] quality people out there fighting in [his] defense." Craig states that Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) is "now willing to come out in [Craig's] defense" and acknowledge that based on everything Specter knows, Craig "has been railroaded." Craig asks Billy to call Mike (presumably defense attorney Mike Jackson) (?) or Craig about the matter.

Craig reveals in the call that his team reshaped the Saturday press conference to announce only Craig's "intent to resign," not his actual resignation, apparently in order to leave room to maneuver in the event that Jackson is successful in having Craig's guilty plea to disorderly conduct withdrawn. If that effort is successful, then Craig can fight the charge and argue that his situation is no different from Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), who has not been pressured to resign from the Senate because he is actively resisting the charges of ethics violations that hang over him.

UPDATE: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) clarified today that Craig will not resign if he is able to get the charges in Minnesota dismissed within the next 25 days. If not, he will resign on September 30th as previously indicated. If he stays, he must deal with the proceeding in the Senate ethics committee.