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Shortly after a judge denied his request to withdraw the August plea admitting to disorderly conduct, Mr. Craig said he had reversed his previously announced decision to leave the Senate if he could not get the plea thrown out. He said he would instead serve out his third term, which expires in January 2009. He said he would not run for a fourth.

“When my term has expired, I will retire and not seek re-election,” said Mr. Craig, who was accused of soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in a restroom of the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport in early June. “I hope this provides the certainty Idaho needs and deserves.”

His decision was a major disappointment to Republican leaders, who had hoped Mr. Craig would make good on his pledge and spare them from the potential political liability of having a senior lawmaker who has become a national punch line.

Mr. Craig’s decision came as Senator Pete V. Domenici, the veteran New Mexico Republican, announced he would retire at the end of his term in January 2009, creating yet another opportunity for Democrats who already have their eyes on three other Senate vacancies that are opening up. Republicans are unlikely to lose Idaho’s Senate seat but are worried Mr. Craig could tarnish the party’s overall reputation.

Senator John Ensign of Nevada, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, demanded that Mr. Craig keep his pledge and leave the Senate. “The type of behavior we are talking about here is not exactly something that I think a senator should be engaged in,” said Mr. Ensign, who again raised the possibility of public ethics committee hearings into whether Mr. Craig had brought discredit on the Senate, which could be grounds for action against him.

The leaders of the ethics panel said that a complaint filed against Mr. Craig by the Republican leadership in August, when the news of his guilty plea became public, remained an open case, given his decision to remain in office.

Other Republicans stopped short of calling on Mr. Craig to give up his seat, but they were clearly dismayed that he would stay in office, citing the distraction his presence could create as well as the potential harm to the party and the Senate.

“I can’t think of anything good about it,” said Senator Saxby Chambliss, Republican of Georgia.

Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, said, “You don’t want to know what I really feel.”

Mr. Craig had his defenders, including Republican Senators Michael D. Crapo, also of Idaho, and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, both of whom said Mr. Craig was within his rights to remain and try to clear his name.

“Senator Craig is entitled to make his decision and I respect it,” Mr. Specter said. “Disorderly conduct is not moral turpitude, and it is no basis for leaving the Senate.”

Mr. Crapo, a friend and ally on state issues, said he strongly supported Mr. Craig. “I look forward to working with him in the Senate as he resolves his legal battles,” Mr. Crapo said.

If Mr. Craig sticks to his plan, he could be unseated before his term expires only if he was expelled by his fellow senators. Expulsion requires a two-thirds majority and has been used to remove just 15 senators since 1789, according to the Senate Web site. Ten of the 15 were expelled because they were sympathetic to the Confederacy during the Civil War.

After the news of Mr. Craig’s plea was first disclosed on Aug. 27, Senate Republicans leaned heavily on Mr. Craig to leave, concluding that his acknowledged offense disqualified him from remaining. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, called it unforgivable and the party ousted Mr. Craig, a popular lawmaker at home before this episode, from his committee leadership slots.

Republicans were also eager to quickly dispose of a scandal in light of the acknowledgment by Senator David Vitter of Louisiana that he had been involved with an escort service under police investigation for prostitution, and the problems of Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, the longest-serving Republican senator in history, who is under investigation in a federal corruption inquiry.

Mr. Craig announced on Sept. 1 that he intended to resign at the end of the month, touching off speculation about his successor. On Thursday, Gov. C. L. Otter of Idaho let it be known that he had settled on a replacement if Mr. Craig stepped aside, but did not say who that would be.

But in recent weeks, it became clear that Mr. Craig was hoping to stay in the Senate. To the dismay of his colleagues, he returned to work on Sept. 18 and, after an initial flurry of attention, began going about his business. At a private luncheon for Senate spouses last week, Mr. Craig’s wife, Suzanne, told friends he was hoping to finish out his term, one senior lawmaker said.

“As I continued to work for Idaho over the past three weeks here in the Senate, I have seen that it is possible for me to work here effectively,” Mr. Craig said in his statement, saying that he believed he could do more for his state than an interim replacement. He also said he was exploring his legal options on a possible appeal.

Mr. Craig has been treated politely but coolly by his colleagues since his return, with many of them assuming he would leave if the court rejected his effort to withdraw his plea, which was considered likely from the beginning.

Republicans unhappy with Mr. Craig said they had little recourse except for the ethics inquiry, but it was clear the case was going to be at least a temporary distraction. The leadership canceled a Thursday afternoon news conference to lay out the party position on children’s health care rather than face a barrage of questions about Mr. Craig. And Mr. Craig, who was being sought by news organizations, did not go to the Senate floor to vote.

In dismissing Mr. Craig’s effort, Judge Charles A. Porter Jr. ruled in Hennepin District Court that the senator knowingly admitted to his offense even though Mr. Craig said later that he had acted too rashly since he was worried about a state newspaper investigation into reports of homosexual conduct.

“The defendant, a career politician with a college education, is of, at least, above-average intelligence,” Judge Porter wrote in a ruling issued Thursday afternoon. “He knew what he was saying, reading and signing.”

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