GOP Meets Ensign Apology With 'Love and Kindness'

In wake of scandal, senator ducks reelection fight

(NEWSER) - John Ensign will announce that he is not running for reelection in 2012 at an afternoon press conference in Las Vegas, sources tell Roll Call . Republicans have been leaning on the Nevada senator to retire, on the assumption that his much-discussed extramarital dalliances would prove a distraction. Rep. Dean Heller had signaled that he might challenge Ensign in a primary, and he's now expected to run for the seat. More»

Evidence mounts that Ensign may have crossed ethics lines

(NEWSER) - John Ensign tried to get a Las Vegas energy firm to hire his lover's husband as a lobbyist, according to new emails making the rounds at the FBI and a Senate ethics panel. The emails, which a source passed off to the New York Times , represent the first written evidence that Ensign tried to steer work to Douglas Hampton, a former top aide, and seem to belie Ensign’s insistence that he didn’t know the jobs would involve lobbying. More»

Kentucky senator's freeze on employment measure draws bipartisan ire

(NEWSER) - Senate Republicans are breaking ranks as Jim Bunning continues to stall a $10 billion employment and health measure, with Susan Collins of Maine taking to the floor of the chamber this morning to express her "hope that we can act together for the American people." She urged Bunning to drop his objection to the measure; the lame duck replied, "I object." More»

(NEWSER) - 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.” More»

(NEWSER) - John Ensign, a Republican senator from Nevada said to be considering a presidential run in 2012, admitted today that he had an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer, reports Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post. "It's absolutely the worst thing I've ever done in my life," he said at a press conference. "I'm very sorry." His wife, Darlene, backed her husband and said their "marriage has become stronger" in a statement. More»