GOP aide says Craig decision to reconsider resignation 'defies reality'
 Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) apparently didn't call his colleagues in the Senate before expressing his intent to change his mind on resigning his seat.
GOP leaders are shocked; one Senate aide told Politico Craig's announcement "defies reality."
Craig is "losing any goodwill built up among his colleagues," a senior Republican strategist told the Capitol Hill website. "He is simply a fish out of water, floundering right now to get his last gasp of political air."
"It simply defies reality," declared a Senate GOP aide. "You can't make this up even if you are heavily medicated. The American people heard from Larry Craig that he would resign, and using the word 'intent' as a back door doesn't work with them."
Sen. Larry Craig, who originally resigned from his Senate post after his arrest in a Minnesota airport sex sting, said he was reconsidering his decision through spokesmen said Tuesday evening.
"We're still preparing as if Senator Craig will resign Sept. 30, but the outcome of the legal case in Minnesota and the ethics investigation will have an impact on whether we're able to stay in the fight - and stay in the Senate," Sidney Smith, Craig's Idaho spokesman, told AP.
"It's not such a foregone conclusion anymore, that the only thing he could do was resign," he added.
According to Roll Call, Republican Party leaders are not amused.
“I think this episode is over," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). "We’ll have a new Senator from Idaho at some point in the next month or so."
Remarked National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Rebecca Fisher: “Sen. [Republican Chairman John] Ensign (R-NV) believes that Sen. Craig made the right decision to resign, for himself and for the party."
Dan Whiting, Craig's spokesman in Washington, said that the senator was expected to spend the week in Idaho as the Senate votes on spending bills for veterans and other programs this week. Whiting "did not rule out Craig's returning to Washington before the end of the month."
According to Roll Call, a "well-placed Senate GOP leadership aide was even more blunt in describing the feelings of the chamber's Republican leaders, saying Craig’s possible plan to stick around "smacks of desperation by a man who has just devastated his political career and is just now realizing the ramifications of his actions.'"
Some believe the decision was made simply as a way to aid Craig's legal defense, and it is not his intent to stay in the Senate.
More from AP HERE.
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