Senator Craig's Story Just Gets Worse And Worse

The comments over at Huckleberries Online suggest that Senator Craig went rather far out of his way--outside the security zone, and thus he would have had to go back through security--to use the public restroom that he did:

According to the court documents, Craig was in a bathroom near the "Northstar Crossing" part of the terminal. The restroom is inside the security clearance area, but it is located in the foot court, far away from the airport gates. Craig likely would have had to switch airlines in order to pass by this restroom, a very unlikely occurance. This is a PDF map of the airport. The bathroom is in the central food court location, which is also verified by an online gay cruising website which lists this as the location:

Across from Food Court. Go through security to main Mezzanine where main shopping is located. Look for Starbucks Coffee stand and Men's Room is across from there.

Don't forget that in the court documents, Craig was caught peeping at the police officer through a crack in the door before he went into the stall and began his motions.

I can't figure out from the map if this is correct, and it is certainly possible that Craig had some reason to go elsewhere in the airport--and then suddenly had an urgent need to go to that particular restroom. If I have a bit of time to kill on a layover, I walk around the airport a good bit--but I have to have a very good reason to leave one security zone, knowing that I will have to go back through security again. It's a nuisance: removing shoes; emptying my pockets; often removing my belt. It also isn't something that you do by accident--it is very clear when you leave a security zone.

As Idaho Values Alliance points out, Craig did not have a lot of time to kill:

Further, the senator, as a frequent traveler, most likely had access to a VIP lounge for his use during layovers. His layover, according to press accounts, was from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., in other words, over the lunch hour. Most observers will find it inexplicable that a traveler with access to free food and a comfortable and clean bathroom in an essentially private lounge would go out of his way to seek out a public bathroom.

It also isn't looking good for Craig to claim that he had no idea what was going on. Craig admitted that he had used that restroom frequently, and claimed that the police officer solicited him:

DK: All right. I, I know I can bring you to jail, but that's not my goal here, okay? (inaudible)
LC: Don't do that. You You
DK: I'm not going to bring you to jail
LC: You solicited me.

If Senator Craig had claimed, "I had no idea that these were signals for soliciting sex in a public restroom," he could have played the Idaho rube card. But claiming "You solicited me" makes it rather difficult to not realize that there was a homosexual signaling process underway. At best, he might be able to argue that this was entrapment--but that's quite a bit different from, "I had no idea what all this meant."

I hear now that Senator Craig is reconsidering resignation. I hope not. Even if he somehow manages to withdraw his guilty plea, his credibility and judgment are shown by this whole sordid affair to be wanting. Senator Craig needs to move on, and allow Lt. Gov. Risch to start working on representing Idaho in the Senate.