Craig’s now saying that the operative phrase at the press conference was “I intend” – stressing that he did not say, “I will”, “I shall”, or “I plan” on resigning.

I’ve been quiet on this issue until now, since if George Wallace could resurrect his political career, so can someone like Craig. I was waiting for the pictures of him holding hands with his “good friend” at the next Log Cabin Republican gathering.

What few people in Idaho realize is that the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area is home to the largest, most open, and most supportive gay community in the U.S. – outside of San Francisco. It is also, thanks to its Scandinavian roots, a fairly reserved place. It’s not surprising to me that a city that voted into office an openly gay city councilman at the height of the AID’s scare (Minneapolis, in the late 1980’s) also draws a strict line between those places set aside for business and those set aside for pleasure.

Personally, I think that if Craig is pinning his hopes on a Minneapolis judge throwing out his guilty plea – he (and his legal team) have mis-read the situation. Any prosecuting attorney will tell you that having a man of Scandinavian (or German) descent on a jury bodes well for a guilty verdict. We (for I am a scandahoovian, and former Minneapolis resident) are a strict people – a guilty plea means “you are guilty by your own admission”. Honestly, why would a cop arrest you if you weren’t guilty – that’s the little Norwegian on my sholder speaking.

It looks like Craig will now do everything he can to serve out his term, so the history books won’t put an asterisk next to his name (it just won’t be for juicing).

Truly unfortunately, Idahoans won’t get much “representation” over the next year and a half from a man hellbent on writing his own version of history – plus, his fellow republicans have already stripped him of his committee postings (it won’t matter that he’ll be sitting in the Senate Chambers if he’s prevented from having a hand in the crafting of bills). He will be seen as the quintissential, corrupted Washington insider – political poison ivy.

Craig had his best chance to defend himself prior to pleading guilty, if he really believed he was innocent. What has the world come to if you can be arrested for seeking sex in a public restroom just because you tap your foot or it wanders into the next stall? Some stalls are extremely narrow. If you took it to trial, you would have a good chance of establishing that tapping your foot, etc., isn’t enough to establish that you want sex – that you need to do something more overt.

Of course, if Craig would have defended himself in court, The Statesman would likely have published Pokey’s anonymous source story, all the old and new rumors would have come out and the result would have been the same, it just would have taken a year or so. Someone might have been able to pull off such a defense 10 years ago, but in the age of the Internet, open rumors both true and untrue would have put a trial in a very different context. Either way, Craig would have been too weakened to seek reelection.

Also, I have to wonder if Craig would been treated differently – if he would have treated himself differently – if his sexual tendencies were heterosexual and he was busted for soliciting a female prostitute. Would it have made a difference? I want to think not, but something tells me it would have been easier for him somehow.