Craig: 'I Will Continue My Work'

EDINA, Minn. -- Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) just made it official that he will remain in the Senate, presumably until Judge Charles A. Porter issues a ruling here on the Idaho Republican's effort to withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct in an airport men's restroom.

Here's Craig's statement from his Senate Web site.

This is somewhat expected since Porter concluded the roughly 45-minute hearing by saying he would not be able to issue a ruling until "the end of next week" at the earliest. Craig had originally set Sept. 30 as his resignation date if the matter was not resolved, but is apparently willing to wait an additional week or more to get complete legal clarity on the issue.

Here's the link to the news story filed for washingtonpost.com on today's hearing. At issue was Craig's disorderly conduct plea resulting from a sex sting in the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

As readers will see in the story, Porter asked a stream of difficult questions of Billy Martin, the high-profile attorney leading Craig's defense. Speaking to reporters after the roughly 45-minute hearing, Martin was confident. "He was very engaged," the attorney said of the judge's tough line of questioning.