Not to kick him while he's down, but outgoing Senator Larry Craig is having a rough time getting his name out there. Normally, a senator's op-ed would run in one of his or her state's major papers and get prominent billing on the issues of the day.

Craig is not in that position. The best he could do: The Magic Valley Times-News, wherein he argues that he remains an effective senator, having secured large earmarks for several projects around the state. The paper had argued, after Craig's incident in a Minneapolis bathroom and subsequent guilty plea, that Craig was no longer able to do his job representing Idaho.

"Readers can rest assured that I haven't lost the old ways. Fighting for Idaho's water is something I have done since my first days in Congress and beyond. My spurs aren't on the hook just yet, and until they are, I'll keep fighting for Idaho," Craig concludes. It's a safe bet that a similar op-ed will not be appearing in the Idaho Statesman, the paper that spent months on a long investigative piece detailing Craig's extracurricular activities.

In other Idaho news, Lieutenant Governor Jim Risch, the favorite to succeed Craig in the Senate, announced last week that he raised $165,000 in the fourth quarter, leaving him with $172,000 cash on hand. Polls have shown Risch with big leads over his primary rivals and former Rep. Larry LaRocco, the likely Democratic nominee.