Larry Craig Keeps His Promise To Retire

The Hill:

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), encumbered by a scandal since last summer, did not file for reelection by his state's deadline Friday, keeping a promise he made and officially marking the end of his congressional career.

Craig's political future has been in doubt since his arrest and guilty plea on disorderly conduct charges filed after an incident in a men's restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last June.

The three-term senator, who previously served five terms in the House, denied the charges that he solicited sex from an undercover police officer conducting a sting operation to crack down on alleged gay sexual liaisons in the airport's bathrooms. Craig said he pleaded guilty in hopes of quelling a scandal, a decision he said he regretted.

The passing of Friday's 5:00 p.m. deadline brings to a close a career in elected office that began with Craig's election to the Idaho state Senate in 1974 and all but clears the way for Idaho Lt. Gov. Jim Risch (R) to take his seat next year in the strongly Republican state where President Bush defeated Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) 68 percent to 30 percent in the last presidential contest.

Risch announced his candidacy last October with the support of Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter (R) and Sen. Mike Crapo (R), a co-chairman of Risch's campaign.

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Read the whole story: The Hill

Comments

[MajorKong]

Buh bye!

[eliandbo]

He is an example of the leadership of the reason this nation is going down!
Don't let the restroom door hit you in the ass as you leave congress!

[AmandaRuth]

gotta love it, dems are hounded and hounded to resign when scandal hits, repubs get to "retire"

[Grannysue]

He's going off to practice the Texas Two step.

[forpeace]

*

Is he going to take the "Summer Interns" with him?!

*

[BarryChamplain]

I honestly think he's so stupid as to have thought that he could save face through all of this, if he just stuck it out, and if he just didn't HAPPEN to file for re-election... nobody would notice.

Forget "closet homosexual". This man is a *moron*.

And watch the good citizens of Idaho elect yet another Republican to his seat, honestly expecting a difference in quality of leadership. Fine; they deserve what they get, and next year, he'll be outnumbered anyway.

[SouthJerseySteve]

Congrats to you Senator Larry "bathroom" Craig--now you can pursue your hobby full-time!

[peibossman]

Larry Craig should retire because his image is tainted...

[gjor]

It's a good idea for larry Craig to retire, his image is greatly tarnished.

[Tator]

He should have resigned at the start.

[serialcoma]

republicans have no honor, morals or integrity... or ethics.... or compassion.... or interest other than their own.

republicans are a threat.

[abbiehoffmansghost]

I can't believe I'm saying this--I agree. Is the world ending?

[the964kid]

This man is pathetic for so many reasons - but it's a shame to see him go. He makes a good poster boy for Republican hypocrites. Who's gonna forget Craig's classic "Bill Clinton's been a bad, naughty boy" line??! Those were the days weren't they? If this guy had been honest with himself he wouldn't have been sneaking around in bathrooms and building his whole life up around lies.

[NotWaldo]

Larry Craig's favorite pick up line :

"If I could rearrange the alphabet I’d put U and I and P together"

[lovethesinner]

Yes, yes, but is he going the Republican National Convention, which flight, and is there any way to rig it so he has to pass by that bathroom?

Seriously, reports on PBS Now have included him in Ted Stevens Alaska oil corruption gang, and I have a feeling he's a real player behind the scenes in Republican energy lobby corruption. I also have a feeling his being gay isn't the real issue. From some of the stories from Idaho, he's got an abusive thing going on. (There could be bodies buried somewhere.)

[atila]

he is part of the beggining of the end for the republican­s...thanks god...

[bmermaid]

He's a disgrace to the Senate & to Idaho.
Every time I hear any mention of Idaho now, I think of hypocritical, sordid gay bathroom sex.

[jj]

I truly hope Craig considers leaving the closet as well as the Senate - poor old guy must be miserable.

[LeftLeanWing]

It is to late for that. The gay community doesn't want him. As long as he's left the stall, is the most we should hope for.

I think he will just have to get by with a toy, ----if you know what I mean.

[NotWaldo]

In fact, Sen. Craig admitted that he is gay ... but he just never inhaled.