Evidently Larry Craig is pondering whether or not he should go quietly into the the good night… Now, just days after announcing that he would resign on September 30, he has flip-flopped, stretching his statement out to imply a rather “wide stance” on his own resignation. The latest begs to ask the question… To Resign or Not To Resign.

Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho opened the door Tuesday to returning to the Senate, creating another twist in his unfolding political drama and raising the possibility of an ugly showdown with national Republican leaders.

Dan Whiting, a spokesman for Mr. Craig, an Idaho Republican, said Tuesday night that Mr. Craig had not ruled out reversing his plan to step down Sept. 30. After intense pressure from Republican colleagues in the Senate, Mr. Craig announced Saturday that it would be best for “the people of Idaho” if he resigned after the disclosure of his guilty plea last month to disorderly conduct charges stemming from his arrest in June in a Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport bathroom.

“As he stated on Saturday, Senator Craig intends to resign on Sept. 30,” Mr. Whiting said in a statement. “However, he is fighting these charges, and should he be cleared before then, he may, and I emphasize may, not resign.”

The latest in the bizarre Larry Craig scandal is a whopper… Craig claims he “chose his words carefully during his resignation speech Saturday in Boise,” and in doing so only signaled an intent to resign, “according to a voice mail message he mistakenly left on a stranger’s phone.”

In the message obtained by the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, Craig tells a man named “Billy” that his choice of language is deliberate because it leaves the door open for him to stay in office.

Craig made the call just minutes before his speech.

“We have reshaped my statement a little bit to say it is my intent to resign on Sept. 30,” Craig said. “I think it is important for you to make as bold a statement as you are comfortable with this afternoon, and I would hope you could make it in front of the cameras. I think it would help drive the story that I’m willing to fight, that I’ve got quality people out there fighting in my defense, and that this thing could take a new turn or a new shape, it has that potential.”

The recording was offered for sale to the Idaho Statesman, which turned it down because the newspaper’s ethics policy precludes it from paying for information from sources. A Roll Call editor said that publication wouldn’t pay either, but managed to obtain the recording without charge.

The voice is indeed Craig’s, spokesman Dan Whiting said. Whiting would not say who “Billy” is. Later that day, Craig announced that he had hired high-profile criminal defense lawyer Billy Martin, whom Craig hired to help him unravel the guilty plea Craig filed last month.

There’s some confusion about the voice mail left on a “stranger’s phone” and whether Roll Call has the transcript. Jeralyn at TalkLeft and Josh Marshall at TPM both have the transcript, via McJoan on DKos, but I didn’t see the actual transcript on DKos. It’s all very confusing at this point. Craig was a no show as Congress reconvened today.

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