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Idaho senator will resign

He had pleaded guilty after his arrest in a sex sting at an airport.

BOISE, Idaho - Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig will resign from the Senate amid a furor over his arrest and guilty plea in a police sex sting in an airport men's room, Republican officials said Friday.

Craig will announce at a news conference in Boise this morning that he will resign effective Sept. 30, GOP officials in Idaho and Washington told the Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Word of the resignation came four days after the disclosure that Craig had pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge resulting from his June 11 arrest during a lewd-conduct investigation at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

At the time of his arrest, Craig denied that he had used foot and hand gestures to signal interest in a sexual encounter.

This week, the three-term Republican senator maintained that he did nothing wrong except for making the guilty plea without consulting a lawyer. But he found almost no support among Republicans in his home state or Washington.

Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter appeared Friday to have already settled on a successor: Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, according to several Republicans familiar with internal deliberations.

Craig has been out of public view since Tuesday, when he declared defiantly at a Boise news conference: "I am not gay. I never have been gay." But Republican sources in Idaho said he spent Friday making calls to top party officials, including the governor, gauging their support.

There has been virtually none publicly.

Asked Friday at the White House if the senator should resign, President Bush said nothing and walked off stage.

Republican officeholders and party leaders maintained a steady drumbeat of actions and words aimed at persuading Craig to vacate his Senate seat.

GOP lawmakers, hoping to get the embarrassment to the party behind them quickly, stripped Craig of leadership posts on Wednesday, one day after they called for an investigation of Craig's actions by the Senate Ethics Committee.

With his wife, Suzanne, at his side, Craig said he had kept the incident from aides, friends and family and later pleaded guilty "in hopes of making it go away."

Craig, 62, has represented Idaho in Congress for more than a quarter-century and was up for re-election next year. He was elected to the Senate in 1990.

Republican officeholders and party leaders wanted Craig to give up his seat in the Senate as soon as possible. Their preference, according to several officials, was for a successor to be selected and ready to take the oath of office when the Senate returns from its summer vacation next week.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Craig's conduct "unforgivable" and acknowledged that many in the rank and file thought Craig should resign.

Republicans are worried about the scandal's effect on next year's election. The contest for control of the next Senate was already tilted against Republicans, who must defend 22 of 34 seats on the ballot next year, before the Craig scandal.

With a GOP candidate other than Craig, Republicans would stand a much better chance of keeping his Idaho seat in 2008. Idaho is one of the nation's most reliably Republican states.

[Last modified September 1, 2007, 01:22:06]