sos 2
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. The disgraced U.S. senator busted in a sex sting in a men's room is not backing down at all. You might remember a judge recently denied Senator Larry Craig's request to withdraw his guilty plea to the charges in the case. Just a short while ago, Senator Craig appealed that ruling. This coming as Craig is now making a fresh push to tell all of us his side of the story. Our congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, is watching all of this. She's covered this story from the beginning. He's still got the appeal. Let's start with that. It's an uphill struggle for him, Dana. DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It sure is an uphill struggle for him, Wolf. You know, last week, 10 days ago, when a Minnesota judge denied Craig's motion to withdraw that guilty plea, the judge did so in a very detailed, pretty lengthy ruling, knocking down Craig's attorney's arguments point after point. And so right now, actually, even Senator Craig himself, he's admitting that it's going to be pretty hard to go through this appeals process. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. LARRY CRAIG (R), IDAHO: It is my right to do what I'm doing. I've already provided for Idaho certainty that I think Idaho needed. I'm not running for reelection. That's already started, the next political cycle in Idaho. So I'm no longer in the way. I'm no longer blocking the political process of Idaho. But I am pursuing my constitutional rights. (END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Now, he said also in that interview which is airing in Idaho tomorrow, honestly the appeals court tends to defend the courts below him. But it is important to note that whether or not Senator Craig is successful in this appeals process, that has no bearing at this point on Senator Craig's political future. When he reversed his decision to resign from his seat in the U.S. Senate, he did so regardless of what happens at this point in the legal process. So he is now staying in the Senate, according to the last statement that the senator made. But this does continue the political headache, Wolf, for the Republican leadership in this party, especially here in the U.S. Senate, because we talked to a court spokesman in Minnesota, and this process could be quite lengthy. At a minimum, it could take six to seven months, maximum up to 14 months. That gets us to the point of Election Day 2008, and even perhaps as close to the time when Senator Craig could be leaving office. BLITZER: Did he say it was his intent not to seek reelection, or did he flatly say he's not going to seek reelection? BASH: Well, he's left every impression that he is not going to seek reelection, that he is flatly not going to seek reelection. But I can tell you, Wolf, that the man in charge of getting Republicans elected, Senator John Ensign in Nevada, the day that this was announced, he was pretty angry. And he said, I don't believe anything Senator Craig says at this point. So, certainly, that is Senator Craig's intention not to seek reelection, but it's unclear at this point whether or not his colleagues believe him. BLITZER: And the other point is, in addition to the legal appeal, he's launching -- and we saw that clip -- a make public relations push as well. BASH: He sure is. You know, every picture that we have seen of Senator Craig over the past months or so, he's been running from cameras, racing through the hallways in the Senate as reporters have been trying to ask him questions. Now he is on a P.R. campaign to stop, to sit down with his wife, have a conversation. He's doing that in a pair of interviews. And, in it, he is discussing more what happened to him, the political problem that he suffered at the hands of really his own Republicans right after this scandal broke. You remember, one of his major problems was the fact that his colleagues abandoned him so fast. And in one of the interviews with NBC, he really goes after GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney was somebody who Senator Craig endorsed. He was Mitt Romney's liaison here in the Senate. Here's what Senator Craig said about Mitt Romney: "He not only threw me under his campaign bus. He backed up and ran over me again" -- pretty strong words. You can tell Senator Craig is certainly stinging from the treatment that he got from Mitt Romney. I can tell you that he probably could potentially say the same thing about some of his colleagues he had worked with for years and years in the Republican Party here in the Senate. BLITZER: All right, Dana, thanks very much. Dana is watching the story for us
Senate energy and natural resources committee
Senate veteran's affairs committee
nicholson resigns
stolen computer
Senate appropriations committee
walter reed
Senate ethics committee
