Despite Court Defeat, Craig Vows to Remain in Senate

Craig said that he is "extremely disappointed with the ruling" and that his lawyers will "explore my additional legal options."

Andrew Birrell, a defense lawyer in Minneapolis, said that Craig could go to the Minnesota Court of Appeals to try to overturn Porter's ruling but that such an effort may be "insurmountable." Under Minnesota law, Craig has to prove that a "manifest injustice" occurred in his guilty plea and, now, that Porter erred in his ruling. Birrell said a normal appeal process takes four to six months.

Craig's announcement that he is staying in office is the latest turn in a nearly six-week saga, beginning with the revelation Aug. 27 that earlier in the month he quietly pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct stemming from a June 11 arrest in a sting operation at a men's restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

After his arrest and guilty plea became public, Craig said at a news conference that his actions -- tapping his foot, bumping the foot of an undercover officer and swiping his hand under the stall divider -- were innocent gestures and not, as the officer alleged, solicitations for sex.

The senator said he "overreacted" by pleading guilty because his hometown newspaper, the Idaho Statesman, was investigating his sexual orientation. "I am not gay," he said.

Then, on Sept. 1, in what his colleagues thought was his full resignation, Craig said he would step down because his case "would be an unwanted and unfair distraction of my job and for my Senate colleagues."

The next week he asked a Minnesota judge to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea and said he would stay in office until the case was resolved.

In recent weeks, Craig's fellow senators have been outwardly genial when they meet him in the Capitol. On his first day back on Capitol Hill after his case became public, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) engaged him in a lengthy chat on the chamber floor about legislation they worked on together.

Yesterday, Craig said part of the reason he is staying in the Senate is his "important committee assignments that are valuable to Idaho," including positions on the Appropriations panel and the Energy and Natural Resources panel. If he were to resign now, he said, "a replacement would be highly unlikely to obtain these posts." He was not present yesterday evening for a vote on an appropriations bill.