Senator's Wife Finds Herself at Center of Storm

Aug. 30, 2007 — -- Literally and figuratively, Suzanne Craig, wife of Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, stood by her man as he spoke to reporters Tuesday, denying that he is gay and saying that he mistakenly pleaded guilty to charges that he had propositioned an undercover police officer for sex in an airport men's room.

Holding her husband's hand as he approached the podium, Suzanne Craig, wearing large sunglasses, silently stood next to the Republican senator as he read a prepared statement. The scene echoed a tableau the American public has seen countless times before — the scandal-plagued politician and his stoically supportive spouse.

Exactly what took place between the senator and Sgt. Dave Karsnia in the Minneapolis airport in June may never be known for sure. Nor can anyone outside of Larry and Suzanne Craig know exactly how their marriage has weathered 25 years of allegations that he has furtively engaged in sex with other men.

Recent scandals, however, have given the public a pretty good sense of what Suzanne Craig now faces. Tuesday's appearance was the beginning of what observers — including Dina McGreevey, the ex-wife of gay former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey — say will be a very difficult time.

"Why would you have your wife hauled out before the media when you're sitting there explaining your latest indiscretion? Because a picture is worth 1,000 words," Cathy Allen, spokeswoman for the American Association of Political Consultants, told ABCNEWS.com.

"If you see a guy standing next to his wife, it offers some explanation that he might be telling the truth. It means 'how can he be gay? He's got a wife.' … Usually, there is an assumption that if your wife can forgive you, then the world can forgive you," she said.

Since news of the arrest was made known, the public has yet to hear from Suzanne Craig, the mother of three children the senator adopted after their marriage in 1983. Tuesday, the Idaho Statesman published a recently conducted interview in which the Craigs were confronted with statements from a source who claimed to have had oral sex with the senator in Washington's Union Station.