Fox, Handed Ensign Affair, Commits Ugly Fumble

Fox News had the bombshell about Sen. John Ensign’s affair in its lap and didn’t do anything with it, Howard Kurtz writes in the Washington Post. A Fox producer tells the Huffington Post the network never received a letter Douglas Hampton, the husband of the Republican’s mistress, sent last week, but did get an email from him on Monday. “We followed up with him, but he seemed evasive and not credible,” Tom Lowell said, “thus we didn't pursue it.”

“Sometimes a ball gets by,” Lowell told the Post. “This one got by. My mistake.” He said protecting anchor Megyn Kelly, to whom the letter was addressed and who “has any number of people who have stalked her,” was his main goal. Lowell also denied that anyone at Fox warned Ensign, who confessed to the affair Tuesday.
(More John Ensign stories.)