LIANE HANSEN, host:
From NPR News, this is WEEKEND EDITION. I'm Liane Hansen.
An apology can make a difference. When the scandal broke this past week over Larry Craig's arrest in an airport men's room, nary a kind word was spoken in his favor. Then yesterday, when Senator Craig announced his resignation, he added this.
Senator LARRY CRAIG (Republican, Idaho): To Idahoans I represent, to my staff, my Senate colleagues, but most importantly to my wife and my family, I apologize for what I have caused. I am deeply sorry.
HANSEN: Craig's apology moved some of the same Republicans in Congress who had criticized him to say the senator should be remembered for his three decades of public service. Idahoans have been especially gracious, then again, they've been holding their fire all along.
NPR's Martin Kaste reports from Boise.
MARTIN KASTE: All week long, the drumbeat for Craig's resignation came primarily from Washington. Even before Craig had a chance to defend himself after the news broke, Senate Republicans were calling for an ethics investigation. And it wasn't long after that that Craig was stripped of his seniority on key committees — an unmistakable sign that he was in the doghouse with party leaders.
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KASTE: And so, things culminated here, on a hill overlooking Boise, with a full complement of television trucks, lights and generators. Some locals showed up, too, peering between the assembled reporters to watch their senator announce his resignation.
Vicky Williams is a big Craig supporter. She says the whole event felt like a political execution.
Ms. VICKY WILLIAMS (Resident, Idaho): It's feel almost something like an animal frenzy where you get a member of the pack that gets some kind of a bite or an infection, and they literally could peck him to death.
KASTE: Democrats, too, were uneasy. State party executive director John Foster welcomed Craig's resignation, but he was surprised by how it happened.
Mr. JOHN FOSTER (Executive Director, Idaho Democratic Party): Well the silence from Idaho Republicans has been deafening, certainly not from the national Republicans. But in the state, there hasn't been one call for him to resign from any of his people.
KASTE: Indeed, state Republicans have said very little about the scandal.
Bryan Fischer runs a conservative grassroots organization called the Idaho Values Alliance.
Mr. BRYAN FISCHER (Executive Director, Idaho Values Alliance): It was difficult for them to support what he had done, but at the same time, because of their affection and loyalty for the senator, they did not want to publicly criticize him. And so the pressure, it seems, really came from the leadership of the - at the national level on the Republican Party.
KASTE: In the state, public criticism of Craig came primarily from conservative groups like Fischer's, which called on Craig to quit soon after the scandal broke. Many conservatives were already disenchanted with Craig for other reasons such as his support for immigrant labor.
It's now up to Republican governor to name Craig's replacement. It will be another Republican, of course, but the question is what kind?
Professor GARY MONCRIEF (Political Science, Boise State University): There is what I would consider to be the conservative wing and the ultra conservative wing. That's where it comes down to.
KASTE: Gary Moncrief has been a political science professor at Boise State University for 30 years. He says most bets here are on Lt. Gov. Jim Risch. He says Risch is a savvy politician who's been eyeing the Senate for some time and someone the national Republican Party could count on to hold on to that Senate seat in next year's election.
Prof. MONCRIEF: Normally pretty much anybody the Republican Party would put up, we would expect that person would be the presumptive favorite. But in the last couple of years in the Intermountain West, we've seen Democrats making some inroads. And I suspect the Republican Party is becoming a little nervous about that even in Idaho.
KASTE: The list of potential replacements also includes Dirk Kempthorne, a former governor and senator, and currently the Interior Secretary in the Bush Administration; and also, Mike Simpson, the congressman from Idaho's 2nd District. Staffers for Gov. Butch Otter say he's likely to wait a few days before making any final decisions.
Martin Kaste, NPR News, Boise.
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