Bathroom hijinks and the editorial page: besieged senator's attacks puts editor on national TV.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Idaho's political story of the decade broke on August 27, when we learned senior Senator Larry Craig had been arrested in a Minneapolis airport restroom.

Then, on August 28, Craig put the Idaho Statesman in the middle of the story; on national TV, he blamed his guilty plea on our paper's reporting.

Life becomes considerably more interesting when a twenty-seven-year member of Congress calls your paper out.

We had to answer for our investigation into a quarter century's worth of rumors about Craig's sexual orientation--several months of reporting, involving some three hundred interviews. We made the A list of the "go-to" pundits for the networks, at least for a few days. For the first and probably only time in my editorial-writing career, a "Nightline" segment closed with a close-up shot of a proof of my page, hours before the Statesman hit the front porches in sweltering late-summer Boise.

In this August 30 editorial, our editorial board called on Craig to resign.

I wouldn't take back a word. I'm proud of how our paper performed, on both the news and opinion side of the electrified fence.

What have I learned (so far) from the Craig saga?

1. Brace for impact. I already had one MSNBC spot under my belt before Craig criticized the Statesman--and I was a second-string talking head, (Wisely, the networks wanted our expert, Dan Popkey, our lead reporter on the story.) Things got crazier as the week went on, and would have even if Craig hadn't singled us out.

We had to figure out who had more time and who was more comfortable doing broadcast interviews. I hate to say it, but we had to perform triage: We made the Idaho media and the networks our priorities and turned down the requests that fell in between.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

That was a plan on the fly. If your paper has a "disaster plan," make sure it factors in interview requests from other media.

2. Tell your story in print. The morning we called on Craig to step down, I blogged about why we had written what I consider an editorial of last resort.

I got one cranky email: "Most of your readers are not concerned about second-guessing, public self-flagellation, or the personal anguish of Idaho Statesman editorial board members" The numbers suggest otherwise. The blog got more online hits than the editorial itself.

We demand transparency from our leaders; our readers demand it from us. We should give them what they want.

3. Tell your story on the air. We were better off for getting out and explaining both our news and editorial decisions. I saw it as a chance to explain a sensitive editorial decision and restate our case.

Just be prepared. Some organizations make that easier; CNN seems big on doing pre-interviews (and did one with me at my request).

And be prepared for the kind of questions that, well, we love to ask. Invariably, everybody grilled me about Craig calling us out. Never mind that I don't work on the news side--and never mind that we tried not to turn this into a battle between Larry Craig and the Statesman. I thought back to all the times when, as a reporter, I didn't buy it when a source downplayed conflict. Ah, payback.

4. Stay in the field. I made sure to be there when Craig made his August 28 appearance-and then on September 1, when Craig announced his famously fluid "intent" to resign. Part of it was tactical: To the extent that Craig's allies recognize me on sight, I wanted them to see me there. More importantly, I needed to hear and see the news firsthand, not on the newsroom TV. Which leads to my next point.

5. React. Craig's August 28 appearance was so defiant, and so devoid of answers, that it forced us to rethink our position. At first, we urged Idahoans not to rush to judgment--but also urged Craig to offer his constituents a full explanation. When it became apparent that Craig planned to hunker down, we decided it was time to call for his resignation. It was the right call, made easier based on what I had seen and heard for myself.

6. Hang in there; they'll forget you again. A couple of minutes after Craig announced his "intent,' I was buttonholed by a polite and enterprising student reporter from Boise High School. Good interview, and it left me feeling better about the future of our profession. Afterward, when I called in for my appointment to offer reaction to MSNBC, I was politely told the network had changed plans. I took that as a strongly worded admonishment from karma to keep it real.

Always good advice under any circumstances--especially the craziest ones.

Kevin Richert is the editorial page editor of the Idaho Statesman in Boise. E-mail: krichert@idahostatesman.com