Well, this one goes out to all of you who were convinced that John Ensign was on the brink of resignation:
Republican Sen. John Ensign said Monday that not only does he have no intention of resigning in light of his affair and his parents’ payout to the woman’s family, he plans to seek reelection when his term is up in 2012.
In another interesting nugget, the Sun article says that Ensign claims that he has received supportive comments from those "on both sides" of the Senate leadership.
This stands in a bit of contrast to how the Sun describes the reaction to recent events from leaders within Ensign's own party:
Ensign’s colleagues failed to rally to his side late last week as Ensign revealed the payments.
Senate Minory (sic) Leader Mitch McConnell declined to comment when approached by the Sun late Thursday as the Senate was closing for the week, as did other Republican colleagues and leaders.
Ensign's already embarrassing personal scandal took a turn in the past week, when it was revealed that Ensign's parents had paid the family of the woman in question, Cynthia Hampton, nearly $100,000, and that Ensign might have broken campaign finance rules by failing to disclose a severance package to Hampton (this last bit according to her husband in an interview with Nevada political journalist Jon Ralston).
Ensign's poll numbers took a precipitous drop in the wake of the revelations of his affair last month, but he might be gambling on the fact that he can resurrect his image in the three-plus years between now and his date with Nevada voters.
Democrats have a growing bench in the state, and there have been stray rumors that longtime Las Vegas Congresswoman Shelley Berkley might be interested in heading to the other side of the Capitol.