Sen. Larry Craig, D-Idaho, booking photo

That sounds like a line by James Cagney during his gangster movie days.

Guess, again. It's my paraphrase of men in a smoke-filled room discussing the latest developments about the resignation of Sen. Larry Craig, D-Idaho.

It's like the old movie about the monster that refused to die. The Craig story won't die. At the height of the furor over his arrest, he refused to resign. Then he resigned. Now, he apparently changed his mind.

When a U.S. Senator gets arrested, it's a big story. He was arrested June 11 in an airport john near Minneapolis, Minn. According to the police report he made no secret of being a U.S. Senator. (When I was a cops reporter it was big news if any elected official was arrested)

It seems like most news agencies either missed the fact that a U.S. Senator had been arrested when it happened, or ignored it.

It's apparent that the Idaho Statesman was following the developments.

The arrest didn't appear to become a big story until it was announced that he was leaving Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. the stamen said it would be a distraction to Romney's bid for president.

The question of the hour: Why did it take so long for the story to be noticed? I'm not making a judgment on the kind of charge. It's not important.

My news mentors taught me that public officials are guilty until proven otherwise, unlike the constitutional protection supposedly granted to us mere civilians.

According to the arrest report, he handed his business card identifying himself as a U.S. Senator to the arresting officer. Was he doing that to get out of the arrest?

Mother Jones, while visiting a prison, asked an inmate why he was in jail. He said he stole a pair of shoes.

An uncomfortable Calvin Coolidge and Mother Jones.

Larry Craig was arrested in an airport bathroom and it got him kicked off a presidential candidate's campaign. Many will argue that what he did was not a crime. If he didn't commit a crime, why did he plead guilty?

---