Idaho Senator Larry Craig

BOISE -- Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig will resign from the Senate amid a furor over his arrest and guilty plea in a police sex sting in an airport men's room, Republican officials said Friday.

Craig will announce at a news conference in Boise today that he will resign effective Sept. 30, Republican officials in Idaho and Washington said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Craig's resignation will not affect the makeup of the Senate, because Idaho's governor is expected to appoint another Republican to the seat.

But the scandal added to the difficulties Republicans face in trying to win back control of the Senate in next year's elections, in which they will have to defend 22 seats, including that of Sen. John Warner, of Virginia, who said Friday that he will retire when his term ends in 2009.

Word of the expected resignation came four days after the disclosure that Craig, 62, a social conservative who has steadfastly opposed gay rights, had pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge arising out of his June 11 arrest during a lewd-conduct investigation at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The three-term Republican senator maintained he did nothing wrong except for making the guilty plea without consulting a lawyer. But he found almost no support among Republicans in his home state or Washington, D.C.

Several Republicans familiar with internal deliberations said Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter favored Lt. Gov. Jim Risch as a replacement. But Otter aides and Risch said no decision had been made on Craig's successor.

"I have not been promised the job of U.S. senator, nor has there even been a hint that the governor would appoint me to that position," Risch said.

Mark Warbis, a spokesman for Otter, said the governor would not comment.

Craig's spokesman, Dan Whiting, said earlier that the senator would announce his career plans today. The spokesman would not say whether Craig intended to resign.

Craig has been out of public view since Tuesday, when he said at a Boise news conference: "I am not gay. I never have been gay." But Republican sources in Idaho said he spent Friday making calls to top party officials, including the governor, gauging their support.

There has been virtually none publicly.

Asked Friday at the White House if the senator should resign, President Bush said nothing and walked off stage.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Craig's conduct "unforgivable." Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said Craig should resign. And former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who had used Craig in his presidential campaign, quickly cut all ties, calling Craig's actions "disgusting."

Even the Republican National Committee had planned to weigh in, calling on Craig to leave office, but pulled back when word came from Idaho that Craig was on the verge of doing just that.

Republican lawmakers, hoping to get the embarrassment to the party behind them quickly, stripped Craig of leadership posts Wednesday, one day after they called for an investigation of Craig's actions by the Senate Ethics Committee. Craig complied with the request.

With his wife, Suzanne, at his side, Craig said Tuesday he had kept the incident from aides, friends and family and later pleaded guilty "in hopes of making it go away."

He said he pleaded guilty because his hometown newspaper, The Idaho Statesman, had been investigating his sexual orientation. He said he hoped to resolve the case quietly to avoid what he called the paper's "witch hunt."

Craig has represented Idaho in Congress for more than 25 years. He was up for re-election next year.

The GOP must fend off criticism, amplified by Craig's arrest, that the moral-values rhetoric of some party leaders is undercut by their actions.

Combined with bad news in Iraq and a sitting president mired in low approval ratings, Republicans are on the defensive with the first presidential primaries months away.

"It's a body blow every single month," said Jim Dornan, a veteran Republican campaign manager and strategist. "We can't seem to [stanch] the bleeding."

For decades, the Republican Party has built national majorities in presidential elections with the help of solid support from conservative voters with deep religious convictions.

Particularly in Southern states, the party made inroads by convincing Democrats and independents that it better represented their views on abortion, religion and gay marriage.

Exit polls showed that values were on the minds of many voters who headed to the polls in 2004 to re-elect Bush.

But two years later, the GOP lost control of the House under the cloud of former Rep. Mark Foley of Florida, who sought relationships with young legislative pages.

In July, Louisiana Sen. David Vitter acknowledged he had been a client of the so-called D.C. Madam. This week, Craig joined the list of the disgraced.

Some Republican strategists predicted the party will suffer few long-term effects from the spate of ethical lapses. The Iraq war -- not morality and values -- will be the overriding issue in the 2008 elections, they said. By Election Day, the Craig scandal will seem like a distant memory. "A year is an eternity in politics," Dornan said.

Craig was arrested June 11 at the Minneapolis airport after stretching his foot under a restroom stall partition and touching the foot of the undercover officer, according to the police report.

In the report, the officer, Sgt. Dave Karsnia, said Craig had tapped his foot "as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct."

When he was detained, Craig showed Karsnia his Senate business card and said, "What do you think about that?"

On Thursday, the Minneapolis airport authority released a tape recording of Craig's interrogation by Karsnia, who repeatedly accused Craig of lying.

"I'm not gay. I don't do these kinds of things," Craig told Karsnia. "You shouldn't be out to entrap people."

Accusing Craig of lying, Karsnia told him, "Embarrassing, embarrassing. No wonder why we're going down the tubes."

Court records show that Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct that "tended to arouse alarm or resentment in others" Aug. 8, paid a $500 fine and was sentenced to one year's probation.