Ensign bows out

John Ensign’s once bright political career crashed and burned in June 2009 when he acknowledged having an affair with his best friend’s wife.

On Monday, the two-term Republican senator announced he was finished trying to pick up the pieces and will not run for re-election next year.

"I’m putting (family) first instead of my career," he said.

It was the right call.

Sen. Ensign’s affair and his subsequent actions — which included his parents paying off the woman and her family, along with efforts to find employment for her husband, a member of his staff — led to investigations that limited his fundraising ability and damaged his support statewide.

Although Sen. Ensign maintains he broke no laws or ethics rules, he admitted that the indiscretion would have forced him into an "exceptionally ugly" political campaign had he sought to keep his seat in 2012.

Monday’s announcement was the culmination of a stunningly rapid fall. Just two years ago, Sen. Ensign was mentioned as a possible GOP presidential contender. On Monday, a haggard Sen. Ensign threw in the towel on his political career, brought down by a moral lapse he admitted was a product of his own hubris.

John Ensign emerged on the political scene in 1994, when he ran as a socially and fiscally conservative Republican for a Democratic-leaning Nevada House seat. His social conservatism ultimately would play a large role in his undoing, making it easier for critics to dismiss him in the wake of the affair revelation as just another hypocritical moralist.

But the scandal was far off in the future 17 years ago, when he rode a national wave of GOP sentiment to a narrow victory over four-term Rep. James Bilbray. After serving two terms, then-Rep. Ensign challenged Sen. Harry Reid, only to lose by fewer than 500 votes. In 2000, however, Nevada voters elevated him to the Senate to replace the outgoing Richard Bryan.

During his decade in the upper house, Sen. Ensign has been a reliable vote for limited government, personal freedom and moderate taxation. In this regard, Nevada and the country will be poorer without him.

But Sen. Ensign’s decision was for the best from a pragmatic stance. His effectiveness has been hindered by the mess, and polls showed he is vulnerable against both GOP and Democratic challengers. By bowing out now, he minimizes the potential for a bloody, money-draining Republican primary, giving his party a better chance of holding the seat.

"This is not the end; but rather the beginning of an incredible journey … " Sen. Ensign said Monday. "I have until the end of 2012 to fiercely fight for the people of Nevada … and fight is what I plan to do."

And with that, a man who once had it all — money, power, looks, family, fame — called it a day, a harsh reminder of the frailty of the human condition.