Senator John Ensign (R-NV) has admitted an affair with one of his campaign workers. As is often the case in such matters, his wife is saying of this episode that their “marriage has become stronger.” The story is all over the media, and here it is from the Washington Post:

Sen. John Ensign (Nev.), considered a rising star in the Republican Party, yesterday acknowledged an extramarital affair with a former campaign staffer who is married to one of the lawmaker’s former legislative aides.

Ensign, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, disclosed the affair at a hastily arranged news briefing in Las Vegas, his home town. He flew home yesterday morning after informing GOP leaders on Capitol Hill of his impending announcement, missing a vote on tourism legislation considered important to Nevada’s casino industry.

The news was the latest setback for a party that suffered losses of at least 13 Senate seats in the past two elections and saw Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) defect to the Democrats in April. Any further instability in their ranks is unwelcome news for Republicans, who viewed Ensign as a telegenic communicator who could deliver the conservative message on political talk shows in a congenial matter.

Politico identifies the woman with whom Senator Ensign had the affair, suggesting the announcement by Ensign about the affair was triggered by a demand for money by the husband of the woman:

But current and former aides to the Nevada Republican say the woman was 46-year-old Cynthia Hampton, a campaign staffer whose husband was a top aide in Ensign’s Senate office.

“It was known in [Ensign’s] inner circle that they were involved,” a former aide told POLITICO.

Hampton served as the treasurer for Ensign’s reelection campaign and for his leadership fund, Battle Born PAC. According to people familiar with the matter, Ensign’s affair with Hampton took place between December 2007 and August 2008. FEC records show that she ended her affiliation with the two committees in early 2008.

Hampton is married to Douglas Hampton, who, according to Senate records, served as Ensign’s administrative assistant in his personal office from November 2006 to May 2008 — around the same time Cynthia Hampton left Ensign’s committees.

A call to the Hamptons’ Las Vegas home Tuesday night was not returned; in a statement, Ensign’s wife said the situation has “been difficult on both families.”

Douglas Hampton was paid about $101,000 in 2008 and $144,000 in 2007 as Ensign’s administrative assistant. But a financial disclosure form he filed in 2007 and 2008 – required for senior congressional staffers - showed only checking and savings account worth a maximum $30,000 combined.

A review of public records shows that the Hamptons in 2006 took out a $1.2 million mortgage on their Las Vegas home, at an interest rate of 8 percent.

Political insiders in Nevada and in the Senate said that Ensign decided to acknowledge the affair publicly after the husband of the woman he had been seeing asked him for a substantial sum of money.

Yes, this is sordid, but to the Republicans credit this is not a boy he had an affair with, nor was it an assignation in a public restroom.

I’m guessing Ensign will move out of the Republican leadership and scrap his prospective campaign for President. He also will not be representing conservative Republican values on TV anytime soon. His campaigning for the sanctity of marriage on the Senate floor is now suspect, to say the least, as is Ensign’s opposition to ethics investigations of former Republican Senator Larry Craig. Perhaps Mr. Ensign should have attended to the sanctity of his own marriage rather than worrying that gay marriage might destroy it. And perhaps there was a reason he didn’t want Larry Craig’s case investiagted. One thing for sure, we’ll not find such speculation in the national media, as they will treat this as a solemn mea culpa and move on.

Senator Ensign is a member of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, a sect founded by Aimee Semple McPherson back in the 20’s. Miss McPherson was famous for affairs, even one reputedly with Milton Berle, who had a fairly famous attribute. Her life is supposedly the inspiration for the book and film Elmer Gantry. Maybe Ensign will not be shunned within his faith community for a simple affair. Who knows? It is too early to tell whether Republicans will blame Ensign’s failure on Elmer Gantry or gay marriage.