Oh, THAT’S Who We Get to Kick Around

Larry Craig, that’s who.

Shortly after a state judge denied his request to withdraw the Augustplea admitting to disorderly conduct, Mr. Craig said he had reversedhis previously announced decision to leave the Senate if he could notget the plea thrown out and would instead serve out his third term,which expires at the end of 2008. He said he would not run for a fourth.

Last we heard, Mark Geragos had withdrawn his Congressional subpoenas so he could try again.

A lawyer for a defense contractor accused of bribing former U.S.Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham on Tuesday withdrew subpoenas of a dozenHouse members after a federal judge indicated he was prepared to quashthem.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns said he mightconsider enforcing the subpoenas if attorneys for Brent Wilkes coulddemonstrate the lawmakers had specific information related to thecharges and their testimony would be critical to Wilkes’ defense.

Wilkes’attorney, Mark Geragos, dropped his request but told reporters laterthat he planned to file new subpoenas against former House Speaker U.S.Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and four California Republicans.

[snip]

He is also considering subpoenas against up to 15 other House membersand four senators: Larry Craig, R-Idaho; Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii; CarlLevin, D-Mich., and Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.

So perhaps Craig is sticking around to make sure no one asks too many questions about the money Brent Wilkes’ employees donated to his PAC. A bribery indictment, after all, is a lot harder to fight legally than some fancy toe-tapping.

Meanwhile, the list of people we won’t have to kick around anymore grew by one today, as Scott Jennings announced his resignation.

J. Scott Jennings, White House Deputy Director of PoliticalAffairs, has been Karl Rove’s right-hand man, assisting him in schemesranging from the U.S. attorney scandal to political briefings atgovernment agencies. ThinkProgress spoke with a White House spokesperson today who confirmed that Jennings is resigning, less than two months after his boss stepped down. The official told ThinkProgress that Jennings would be leaving “sometime soon.”

Which, on the Rove side of the house, leaves just one more notable hack, the guy who took over the Office of Political Affairs: Barry Jackson. Notably, though Jackson was involved in a lot of the politicization of our entire government, he wasn’t a terrifically central player in the USA firing.

Maybe David Iglesias is having champagne again tonight.