New Allegations Test Craig's New Boldness

When the scandal broke, McConnell and Sen. John Ensign (Nev.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, were the leading Republicans to call for the ethics investigation, Craig's removal from senior committee posts and, ultimately, his resignation.

After Craig said in early October that he would remain in the Senate, Ensign called Craig's legal woes "embarrassing for the Senate." Yesterday he had no comment.

Craig still faces a "preliminary inquiry" into his guilty plea by the Senate ethics committee, according to Natalie Ravitz, a spokeswoman for Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who chairs the panel. The probe could drag on for months, possibly into next year's election season. Craig also is appealing a Minnesota judge's refusal to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea.

Craig said he initially decided to stay in the Senate after spending several weeks there and concluding that he could help Idaho via his positions on the Appropriations and Energy and Natural Resources committees, panels that take up measures vital to his state, even if he no longer holds seniority.

According to Craig's Web site, he and Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, secured tens of millions of dollars for the state in spending bills in just two weeks in November. These earmarks included $8 million for the Special Olympics Winter Games, to be held in Idaho in 2009, and $175,000 for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Buhl, Idaho.

"The bottom line is, he is a working senator representing Idaho. Certainly the senators running for leadership posts recognize he still has a vote that matters," said Dan Whiting, Craig's spokesman in Washington.

But Craig's presence in the Senate is far from ordinary. Craig initially RSVP'd "yes" for a fundraising event for the National Republican Senatorial Committee held early last month in Sea Island, Ga., but, according to several aides, he was told not to attend.

He raised eyebrows when he attended a fundraiser at the committee's Capitol Hill headquarters last month for Idaho Lt. Gov. James E. Risch (R), who hopes to succeed Craig, according to a GOP aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely about internal Republican politics.