Larry Craig remains on the public stage, while Grier Martin stays away from it

The last thing Republicans need is to have to think about the Idaho Senate race. With Lieutenant Governor Risch in the race, the GOP is confident the primary will not be too divisive and that they should be able to hold the open seat versus former Democratic Rep. LaRocco. But their worst nightmare would be to have Larry Craig remain an ominous shadow over the entire electoral process. That might give the Idaho electorate just enough of an impetus to move away from the Republican candidate.

And Craig shows no intention of exiting the public stage. He had already made clear two weeks ago that he would not resign after all, even after a Minnesota judge denied his request to withdraw his guilty plea. Today, Craig filed an appeal against that decision, in one more attempt to withdraw his plea and fight the charges in court. It appears that this appeal will not be resolved before deep in 2008, ensuring that the bathroom scandal remains alive well after the Senate race picks up.

At least, Republicans are relieved that Craig closed the door once again the any possibility he might change his mind and run for re-election. He said, "I've already provided for Idaho certainty that Idaho needed — I'm not running for re-election." But Craig also took a very justified swipe at Mitt Romney, the presidential candidate he supported and that turned around and bashed him mercilessly when the scandal first broke at the end of August. Craig said on NBC that, "He not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again." A politician goes perfectly well with Romney's image as an overly opportunistic politician.

Meanwhile in North Carolina, Democratic state Rep. Grier Martin has announced he will not jump in the senatorial race and run against Elizabeth Dole. Martin had been rumored for a while as a candidate, and a poll taken last month showed the race might have been competitive.

A diarist over at Swing State Project lists all the top, second and third-tier Democrats who passed on the race one after the other -- and there are many that could have made the race a top pick-up opportunity. North Carolina will end up as Chuck Shumer's great recruitment failures of the 2008 cycle (just as Indiana and Nevada were last time around). The only Democratic candidate is investment banker Jim Neal who announced last week. Neal compared himself to John Edwards, who also won a Senate race in 1998 with no previous political experience. We'll see what comes out of this soon.