RENO — Politically speaking, Sen. John Ensign of Nevada is about as battered as it gets.
The Republican senator in June acknowledged an extramarital affair with a campaign aide, who was married to his best friend, who has castigated Ensign in television interviews as a shameless Lothario.
In recent days, after the New York Times reported on Ensign's efforts to silence his mistress' husband, Doug Hampton, the Senate ethics committee launched an investigation and talk surfaced of a possible FBI inquiry.
Ensign has said he won't resign, and Nevada's GOP is widely considered too emasculated to push him out. Regardless of what voters think -- Ensign's approval rating in August was a dismal 30% -- they can't weigh in until 2012.
So instead Ensign has, for a time, become a player in two of next year's highest-profile races.
Nevada's political elite -- including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat -- is struggling with whether to stand by its man. Last week alone, liberals castigated Reid for staying out of the Ensign fray and one of Reid's potential challengers, Sue Lowden, for defending him.
As long as Ensign's woes keep making headlines, candidates will be asked to comment on his travails. In a state with fewer residents than Orange County and only a few major campaign donors, there are risks to either embracing or ignoring the onetime GOP golden boy.
"No one wants to speak ill of him if this blows away, especially if he wins reelection and remains a political player," said Kenneth Fernandez, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "But right now, he's sort of a pariah. No one wants to get too close to him."
Complicating things: Ensign's greatest potential sin -- possibly helping Hampton sidestep a federal lobbying law -- is tough to explain to voters. Even as watchdog groups call for Ensign's head, many Nevadans are preoccupied with the state's 13% unemployment rate.
"Who slept with whom -- that's a distraction," said Darren Johnson, 23, a Reno Web developer who voted for President Obama. "If a CEO of a company did the same thing, we wouldn't care."
For years, Ensign was among the most popular politicians in a state where the federal government is often viewed as anathema. With anchorman looks and casino money -- his father is a former gaming executive -- Ensign nearly knocked off Reid in 1998. He won his own seat in 2000. Even as Nevada swooned over Obama, who won the state by 12 points, Ensign seemed safe.
