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"He not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again," Craig told Matt Lauer of NBC's "Today" show in an interview taped Sunday.

Washington -- The leading champion of gay rights in Congress ripped into what he called self-defeating ideological purists on the left who are unhappy with the Democrat-led Congress over issues such as the Iraq war and dropping transgender people from a job discrimination bill. Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who is gay, is under ferocious attack from gay rights organizations for his decision to strip transgender people from a long-sought bill to protect gays, lesbians and bisexuals from job discrimination. Clearly angered by unaccustomed criticism from his most ardent allies, Frank called a press conference Thursday - which coincided...

BOISE, Idaho — Among the most famous excuses ever given for questionable behavior, "I have a wide stance" must fall somewhere between the schoolchild's favorite "the dog ate my homework" and President Clinton's "I didn't inhale." But Sen. Larry Craig's contention — made just after his arrest in a restroom sex sting — has permeated the public consciousness, showing up as more than just the punch line to late-night talk show jokes. The online Urban Dictionary defines "wide stance" as a euphemism for a closeted homosexual. David Kurtz of the blog "Talking Points Memo" called Craig's wide stance claim "The...

Craig, Idaho's trying to let you know Please don't stay, you gotta go If you say that you are mine You’ll be stuck here 'til the end of time Craig, I’m trying to let you know Please don't stay, you gotta goAlways tease, tease, tease Do I have to beg down on my knees? One day you're gone and then you backtrack I just want you off my back Craig, I’m trying to let you know Please don't stay, you gotta goPlease don't stay, you gotta go now Please don't stay, you gotta go now You've caused us all a...

Chafee quietly quits the GOP 01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, September 16, 2007 By Bruce Landis Journal Staff Writer PROVIDENCE — Lincoln D. Chafee, who lost his Senate seat in the wave of anti-Republican sentiment in last November’s election, said yesterday that he has left the party. Chafee said he disaffiliated with the party he had helped lead, and his father had led before him, because the national Republican Party has gone too far away from his stance on too many critical issues, from war to economics to the environment. “It’s not my party any more,” he said. Chafee’s departure...

Why men like Larry Craig continue to court danger in public places

A SurveyUSA poll released yesterday shows Republicans in good shape to keep the Senate seat of disgraced GOP Senator Larry Craig, who is expected to resign at the end of the month. Lt. Governor Jim Risch (R), reportedly the most likely replacement appointee for the seat, leads former Democratic Congressman Larry LaRocco by a margin of 52%-36%. Former Governor Dirk Kempthorne, who served as a U.S. Senator in the 1990's and is currently U.S. Secretary of the Interior, leads LaRocco 55%-36%. Congressman Mike Simpson, who has indicated that he does not want to serve in the Senate — and has...

Should Republican U.S. Senator Larry Craig of Idaho leave the Senate, which at this hour is not certain, Republicans hold the seat when 4 of 6 possible Republican replacement candidates are tested against likely Democratic nominee Larry LaRocco, a former US Congressman, according to an exclusive SurveyUSA poll of 534 Idaho registered voters. Here is the rundown: U.S. Congressman Mike Simpson, who has said he does not want to be considered as a interim replacement for Craig in the event that a Governor's appointment is required imminently, defeats LaRocco today by 20 points. Former Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne defeats LaRocco...

BOCA RATON - A new priest at St. Gregory's Episcopal Church was issued a citation for allegedly soliciting sex in a North Carolina public park's men's room recently. Though the announcement came out this week, police issued a citation for solicitation to the Rev. Michael Penland in June during a Waynesville police sting operation dubbed Operation Summer Heat. Waynesville is located near Asheville, N.C. Penland, who has been a youth minister at the Boca Raton church since November, allegedly followed an undercover officer and solicited sex from him, police said. Penland allegedly followed the officer as he left the park...

Craig chose his words carefully during his resignation speech Saturday in Boise, according to a voice mail message he mistakenly left on a stranger's phone. In that message obtained by the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, Craig tells a man named "Billy" that his choice of language is deliberate because it leaves the door open for him to stay in office. Craig made the call just minutes before his speech. "We have reshaped my statement a little bit to say it is my intent to resign on Sept. 30," Craig said. "I think it is important for you to make...

While many Americans may only be vaguely familiar with the idea of "cruising," there is a secret world of sex between men that exists in public places across the country. The police officer who arrested Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, in a men's restroom at Minneapolis airport for allegedly looking to engage in gay sex wrote in his June report that he "recognized a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct." ...Public places like men's restrooms, in airports and train stations, truck stops, university libraries and parks, have long been places where gay and bisexual men, particularly those...

Apparently, Sen. Craig left a voicemail (at the wrong number) for his lawyer, Billy Martin, the morning of his press conference. Roll Call posted the audio here. The Idaho Statesman has the transcript:"Yes, Billy, this is Larry Craig calling. You can reach me on my cell. Arlen Specter is now willing to come out in my defense, arguing that it appears by all that he knows that I have been railroaded and all that. "Having all of that, we have reshaped my statement a little bit to say it is my intent to resign on Sept. 30. I think it...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A foot-tapping ritual was a common thread in many of the 41 arrests reported during a four-month airport bathroom sting that snared Sen. Larry Craig. An undercover officer would take a seat in a stall. Soon another man would sit in the stall next door and start tapping his foot, perhaps moving it closer to the officer's. The officer would move his foot up and down slowly. The suspect might then extend his hand under the divider between the stalls, sometimes repeatedly. That would be enough to get the man busted. Airport police reports obtained by The...

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men’s public restroom, according to an arrest report obtained by Roll Call Monday afternoon. Craig’s arrest occurred just after noon on June 11 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. On Aug. 8, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in the Hennepin County District Court. He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed. He also was given one year of probation with the court that began on Aug. 8. A...