Hotline After Dark -- Someone Forgot To Call No Take Backs

The late-breaking news that Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) may change his mind about resigning sent the cable nets into a tail spin:

FNC's Garrett: "Craig's Republican colleagues do not want to see this revisited. This is not a welcome development. If he fights this, he will fight an uphill battle in the courts, and he will fight absolutely alone as a political actor" ("On the Record," 9/4).

CNN's Crowley: "This is not going over well with Republicans. Part of it appears to have been pushed forward by Senator Arlen Specter" ("AC 360," 9/4).

FNC's Van Susteren: "In most states, if you are a first offender misdemeanor person, oftentimes, if you have good behavior for a period of time, your record is expunged. So who knows what Minnesota law is, but it could certainly make it easier" ("On the Record," 9/4).

NBC's Viqueira: "Politically, this is just about the worst thing that Republican leaders could possibly have expected for this to come out of nowhere out of Boise tonight. They thought they had driven a stake through the heart of this" ("Live with Dan Abrams," MSNBC, 9/4).

CNN's Johns: "A lot of Democrats would love to see Senator Craig stick around for a while" ("AC 360," 9/4).

MSNBC's Abrams: "I think he's testing the waters, one final chance, see if anyone comes to his support and see if he can survive this thing" ("Live with Dan Abrams," 9/4).

WashingtonPost.com's Cillizza: "That is not going to be met with a lot of smiles, I don't think, in the Republican leadership, who were, frankly, glad to see him go." More: "Every person who is running for president and every member of the Republican leadership is going to get asked 1,000 times between now and when Larry Craig makes this clear, what should Senator Craig do. Is it right for him to rethink resigning. It's just a problem the Republicans frankly don't want to have right now" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 9/4).

Pat Buchanan: "My guess is his family said, If you didn't do this, why are you resigning? Why didn't you fight this thing?" ("Live with Dan Abrams," MSNBC, 9/4).

Blogger Mike Rodgers was on "Hannity & Colmes" to talk about Craig's reconsideration:

Rodgers: "Larry Craig is a hypocrite. ... He is putting the people through Idaho, despite having no support on his own party, and having lost his seats on the committees, he is putting his own state of Idaho through a wrenching progress and I think that's very unfortunate."

On his outing politicians: "There is no glee. It's a very sad situation. In fact, I have found it's such a sad situation that the mainstream media chooses to ignore it."

Asked if Craig should resign or if the ID voters should decide: "I think that's really up to the voters of Idaho but I also think to look at the party and the party has hung him out to dry." More: "I have no problem if Larry Craig wants to hang around the Senate and he wants to defend himself. What I would want to know is why did he plead guilty? Why wouldn't he be forthright with the people of Idaho and why wasn't he forthright with his family?"

Rodgers: "And I would call on the Republican Party to not only hold Larry Craig accountable but to hold David Vitter" (FNC, 9/4).

BUT SHE DIDN'T DANCE!

Hillary Clinton was on "Ellen" 9/4:

At the beginning of the show she gave host Ellen DeGeneres some gifts. HRC: "Well, I figured that I needed to bring you a campaign survival kit. ... Since I'm going to be competing with you. ... You know, I think there's a lot in here that I could you know maybe help you avoid some of the mistakes I've made. ... Let's start with this, which is running for president for dummies. I read it. It's very helpful."

HRC, giving DeGeneres hair products: "They'll be a lot of days when you have to do your own hair ... and you can always tell when I had to."

Asked why she favors civil unions and not gay marriage: "I am very much in favor of civil unions with full equality of benefits and I want to see that developed as we move forward. I want to see that happen with federal benefits. There are a lot of federal benefits that people in long term committed don't have access to and I want to make that happen. ... Then we have a lot of other work to do. I am very much in favor of ending don't ask, don't tell. I don't think it's worked. ... I want to end discrimination against gays and lesbians."

Asked if someone could run for POTUS as a supporter for gay marriage: "I don't know. I've had the same positions for years so I don't know what somebody could do or couldn't do. But I always believed marriage should be left to the states because that's where it's been."

Asked if she's the nominee if she'd have Obama as her running mate: "I'm sort of superstitious so I don't talk about what I might do because it's not there yet and I haven't got it done and I don't want to be presumptuous. But I have such great admiration for him and all the people I'm running against. This is such a great field. You don't have to be against anybody. You can just be for whoever you feel will be the best president and that's what I'm hoping people will feel about me."

Asked the biggest misperception about her: "I guess that I'm some sort of creature from an alien world I suppose. I think when people get to know me, when they get to see me, when they get to make their own judgement, they may not still vote for me or even like me but at least I feel better."

DeGeneres: "I don't think you're a creature from another planet."

The segment ended with the two of them going to a coffee shop to talk to voters. One asked HRC if Bill helps around the house while she is campaigning. HRC: "He actually does some things, but we have help. ... I'll come home late at night, and he'll be rearranging the bookshelves or cleaning up the kitchen, so he's pretty handy to have around."

DeGeneres: "That's a sign of boredom when he's rearranging the bookshelves. That's not helping you."

HRC: "He claims he's thinking" (NBC, 9/4).

DEAR JOHN

ABC's Moran was in IA for "Nightline" and he spoke to John Edwards:

Asked if he has to win IA or he's out, Edwards: "I don't think that's true. ... I'm competing with everything I've got here but so is Sen. Clinton. So is Sen. Obama."

More: "I think in the states where the election will be decided ... I am the strongest candidate."

Asked if it's because he's a white male: "I just think it's the nature of the race, because of way I grew up -- I grew up in a family where my father worked in a mill, I grew up in the rural South, I can compete in the places where we have to be successful. ... It's certainly not about race or gender" (ABC, 9/4). [EMILY GOODIN]