Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Yeah, That Show Can't Go On...

You might've heard by now the news that Nevada Sen. John Ensign has admitted he had an affair with a staffer's wife who was also a former campaign worker. Here's my report for Agence France-Presse. It's interesting because the Nevada GOP sent out an email blast canceling this now-ironic Republican Renewal Project barbeque...


...at 1:09 p.m. PT...


...which, I'm pretty sure, is BEFORE the news broke on the Washington Post's The Fix blog. Veddy interesting.

This is a very, very odd story. Ensign, 51 and father of three, had an affair that ended a year ago but it's coming out only now after he and his wife have been through therapy and come out, according to both, "stronger than ever." Clearly, he was telling the truth recently when he said he wasn't running for president despite his June 1 speech in Iowa. I didn't think he was anyway because he doesn't even own JohnEnsign.Com.

But clearly this whole revelation has been carefully timed for minimal political damage. It's hard to imagine Nevadans will turn on him -- he is by far the state's most popular politician -- when he's up for re-election in 2012. What his national electability is, only time will tell.

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