The Narrow Stall at the Heart of Craig’s Widening Legal Fight

MINNEAPOLIS — Let’s say this much for the infamous restroom in the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport: It’s got some pretty narrow stalls, barely 32 inches wide.

Capitol Briefing — on the scene for Wednesday’s hearing on Sen. Larry Craig’s (R-Idaho) bid to withdraw his guilty plea for disorderly conduct in the airport restroom — paid a visit Tuesday night to the men’s restroom in the North Star Crossing section of the airport. For the sake of argument, this blog took measure, literally, of the stall where Craig was arrested in a sex sting by an undercover officer on June 11. The goal was to determine if there is any plausibility to Craig’s version of events on that fateful day that has left his 27-year career in Congress in tatters.

Craig’s contends he is “not gay,” that he accidentally bumped the foot of the officer in the stall next to him because he is a “wide guy,” taking a wide stance to keep his pants from falling down. He said he didn’t swipe his palm under the stall, but instead bent over to pick up a piece of toilet paper on the floor.

Using an Office Depot measuring tape, the stalls in that restroom are a little more than 32 inches wide. That happens to be more than 3 inches narrower than the stalls in Dulles International Airport, where wide stances are apparently more welcome. Even more coincidental, what did Capitol Briefing discover at 8:20 p.m. CDT last night in the stall where Craig’s career essentially ended two-and-a-half months ago? Toilet paper, three different shreds of toilet paper scattered around the stall just waiting for some neat freak to come along and scoop them up. (To be sure, the “TP” stayed on the ground while I was there, but it was possible to envision me — 5 feet, 9 inches tall — accidentally stretching my right foot into what we’ll call the neutral territory under the narrow stalls. Craig is several inches taller than me, with, presumably, a slightly wider stance.)

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2007/09/craigs_narrow_restroom_stall_l.html