Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s hoping Idaho Republican Larry Craig will keep his word and resign at the end of the month. Craig says he is reconsidering his pledge to resign, despite pressure to do so from Republican leaders. Grassley, meanwhile, calls Craig’s June 11th arrest "bewildering." The arrest was not publicly revealed until August.

"If Chuck Grassley had be accused of a crime on June 8th," Grassley says, "I’ll bet it would have been on your radio program on June 9th. Now, why this thing did not get out until August is bewildering to me. Why somebody as smart as Larry Craig would plead guilty to something he says he didn’t do, is bewildering to me."

Craig initially plead guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct in connection with a sex sting operation inside a bathroom at the Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport. Grassley says Senator Arlen Specter, a Philadephia lawyer, has advised Craig not to resign and fight the charges.

"I would say he would not being giving bad legal advice to Craig," Grassley says, "but he could be giving bad political advice." A spokesman for Senator Craig has said the office is still preparing as if Craig is stepping down at the end of the month.