The Daily Background

Friday afternoon… You know what that means.

Amid intense pressure from his colleagues and the national Republican Party, Sen. Larry E. Craig planned to make a Friday afternoon announcement about his political future, an Idaho Republican familiar with behind-the-scenes negotiations said.

C.L. “Butch” Otter, the state’s Republican governor, was expected to make a separate announcement, the source said.

Senior GOP aides on Capitol Hill said a number of Craig’s GOP colleagues and officials of the Republican National Committee had made clear they want him to announce his resignation and relieve his party of a political burden going into the 2008 election.

More on the possibility Craig will resign here.

Update: Whether or not Craig makes an announcement this afternoon, the Idaho Democratic Party plans to have a press conference discussing recent revelations about Craig. They may or may not talk about who they think should be appointed to serve out the rest of Craig’s term if he resigns. Idaho state law calls for their Governor (a Republican) to appoint a successor to Craig who will fill out the rest of his term, which normally would end on January 1st, 2009. Note that the Idaho Dems’ press conference will come just days after the state party said “This is not a partisan issue. Therefore, the Idaho Democratic Party has nothing to add to the public conversation at this time.”

Update 2: The RNC has reportedly pre-written a press release calling for Craig to resign, but they’re still holding off on sending it out to the media.

Update 3: The announcement has been pushed back to Saturday.

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