Scandal haiku: Ensign affair revealed by love note

If politics doesn’t work out, Sen. John Ensign can always turn to poetry.

The embattled Nevada Republican took another beating this week when Doug Hampton appeared on ABC’s “Nightline.” Hampton was Ensign’s best friend and top aide until the senator had a months-long affair with Hampton’s wife, Cynthia, who also worked for him.

Though the program Monday night revealed few new details about Ensign’s extraordinary efforts to keep Hampton quiet, it created a whole new round of unflattering headlines for the onetime GOP golden boy. (Ensign, in a statement, said he had not “violated any law or Senate ethics rule” in his dealings with the Hamptons.)

It also showed Ensign to be something of a poet.

Hampton said he found out about Ensign’s affair with his wife by intercepting a text message the senator had sent to Cynthia Hampton.

How wonderful it is.

Can’t believe, it’s like a kid.

Scared but excited.

It’s one syllable from being a haiku, a poem with five syllables in the first and third lines and seven in the second. May we suggest another – with the proper amount of syllables – in anticipation of Ensign’s 2012 reelection bid?

Dreading my next race.

Can’t believe all the damage.

 Scared but … yeah, still scared.

-- Ashley Powers

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, got the poetry of politics by clicking here to get Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot. And we're also over here on Facebook.

Illustration: Woodblock print by Ikeda Eisen from the 1820s. Credit: Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Politicians play Nevada name game -- and lose

 

Every election cycle in the Silver State, some public figure makes the same blunder. They – or one of their surrogates – mispronounce the state’s name.

Here, it’s Nuh-VAD-uh.

Not Nuh-VAHD-uh.

Nuh-VAD-uhns are sensitive to this. We’re not sure why. More than two-thirds of residents were born outside the state and a number of them swear they’re only staying for a year (and then never leave). But President Bush and Sen. John Kerry both caught flack for not realizing that the second syllable rhymes with “dad.” Same with TV newsmen George Stephanopoulos and Brian Williams.

State Democrats, in the run-up to the 2008 presidential caucus, apparently sent all their candidates a welcome guide that included the correct pronunciation: Nuh-VAD-uh. And yet, this cycle’s campaign ads are already mangling the state’s name, which is Spanish for "snow-capped." (In Spanish, it would be pronounced Neh-VAH-dah.)

This summer, the National Education Assn. ran radio ads cheering Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, whose poll numbers could use a little pep as he seeks reelection in 2010. But the spot’s narrator repeatedly butchered Nuh-VAD-uh.

This week, Danny Tarkanian, one of the gaggle of Republicans who hope to unseat Reid, released a Web ad mocking how federal stimulus dollars were reported as going to congressional districts that didn't exist.  But the narration pronounced the state as Nuh-VAHD-uh.

One wonders how this might play out in Mi-ZOOR-ee, a.k.a. Mi-ZOOR-ah. Incidentally, in the western part of the Show Me State, there's a town called Nevada. But there it’s pronounced Nuh-VADE-uh.

-- Ashley Powers

It doesn't matter whether you say to-may-to or to-mah-to.  Click here to get Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot. And we're also over here on Facebook.

Top photo: Bloomberg. Bottom photo: Associated Press.

As Obama leaves for Asia, GOP gains first lead on generic congressional ballot since he took office

Time was when American presidents in domestic trouble would travel abroad to be seen positively back home as a world leader.

Then-freshman Sen. Barack Obama was hoping for a little of that back in the summer of 2008 when he staged his expensive campaign rally with an adoring throng in downtown Berlin. Alas, Germans couldn't vote for him -- or a Republican. But it looked great stateside for a few days.

After a brief media statement this morning to get him plastered on the daytime news, President Obama will make the long flight (just ask Sarah Palin) to Alaska to talk with U.S. troops at Elmendorf Air Force Base at local lunchtime while Air Force One refuels for a flight to Tokyo, beginning the president's nine-day trip across Asia. Talk about throngs.

Obama could use some good political news because as he boards the plane with his own bedroom and shower stall, word spread from the Gallup Poll folks that for the first time in over a year, more Americans say they would pick Republicans on a generic congressional ballot than a Democrat.

It's now 48% Republican and 44% Democrat. And this comes after months of the ...

After the affair -- woes of Nevada's John Ensign continue

It was early summer when Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) admitted to an extramarital affair in a clipped statement intended to limit the damage to a few news cycles.

Considering the story broke about the same time as South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s admission of infidelity -- which was a little more Harlequin romance and therefore more interesting -- Ensign seemed destined to fade from the headlines. Instead, the saga has dragged on so long that we suspect we’ll be talking about Johnny Casino come Christmas.

This week, Las Vegas TV reporter and columnist George Knapp reported that ABC’s “Nightline” is slated to air an interview with the most aggrieved of political spouses: Doug Hampton. The Ticket’s calls to ABC News were not immediately returned.

Hampton was essentially Ensign’s co-chief of staff until his wife, Cynthia Hampton, also an Ensign aide, became the senator’s mistress. (For a taste of Hampton’s substantial vitriol, take a look at this interview with local commentator Jon Ralston.) “This is extra bad news for Ensign since ‘Nightline’ has the freedom to devote much more airtime to a story than, say, an evening newscast,” Knapp wrote.

In other Ensign news, Twitter has silenced an ongoing salty parody of him by local scribe Andrew Kiraly. He’s vowed to find a way to revive it, which would likely not bode well for the senator. So much for this affair -- and mockery of it -- quietly dying.

-- Ashley Powers

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Photo: John Ensign. Credit: Associated Press

Mother Pelosi explains her view of politics

For fans of politics who rise early on autumn Saturdays, ABC's Rick Klein tips us that "Good Morning America" plans a profile of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tomorrow.

In case you don't get enough of her during the week.

A couple of tidbits from ABC's interview with the Democrat:

Remember when she received the gavel as the first female House speaker back in 2007 and the podium looked like recess from "Romper Room," with Pelosi family members climbing everywhere?

ABC's Bill Weir asked the mother of five how being a parent affects her public life. Pelosi replied:

I view my work in politics and government as an extension of my role as a mom.

So apparently it's been a bit of eat-your-vegetables tough love and some timeouts that the speaker has dished out to CIA folks in recent months.

Pelosi also sought to explain that awkward moment recently when her Senate counterpart and fellow Democrat Harry Reid put his arm around her while talking to reporters. The speaker recoiled, fueling mumblings about tension between the Hill's top two Democrats.

No, no tension, claims the liberal San Francisco representative: The Nevadan with the high unfavorable ratings back home is a great Senate leader.

What really bothered her, Pelosi says now, was not a man's patronizing hand on her shoulder, but Reid's seeming blanket endorsement of President Obama's Afghanistan policies, even future ones.

He was saying that we were all going to support whatever the president said about troops to Afghanistan, and which, well, remains to be seen until we see what the president puts forth.

Take it from Mom.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press

Nevada Republicans revive Harry Reid's 'bomb'

In 1981, shortly after future Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid left the Nevada Gaming Commission -- where he had presumably made a few, ahem, connected enemies -- authorities concluded that his Oldsmobile station wagon had been rigged to explode when he started the vehicle.
 
(In mob-plagued northern Ohio, this was referred to as the "Youngstown tune-up.")
 
A Las Vegas police report described Reid – who reported finding the device while trying to figure out why his station wagon was running poorly – as the target of an attempted homicide. The bomb squad separately noted that the device was similar to one found in another former gaming commissioner’s vehicle.  In fact, a local paper referred to both incidents as “assassination attempts.”
 
And yet, nearly three decades later, some Nevada Republicans are questioning whether the attempt on Reid’s life was as serious as originally portrayed. This, to say the least, is an odd strategy. The party has far more serious issues to go after Reid:
 
Healthcare reform.
 
The economic stimulus package.
 
Clark County’s nearly 14% unemployment rate despite the economic stimulus package.
 
But last week, Sue Lowden, one of the GOP frontrunners in the race to challenge Reid, joked about the bomb scare with local conservative talker Heidi Harris. Lowden said she didn’t remember “Harry Reid’s bomb,” though she had been a news anchor in Las Vegas.
 
Democrats – relieved, we imagine, at not having to discuss Nevada’s woeful economy for once – immediately posted the clip online, adding their own commentary.
 
This week, Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons went a step farther on Harris' show, dismissing the explosive device as a “telephone book and a shoe box.”
 
“I guess unless Nextel who has about 100 billion phone books out there, and every household, would have a weapon of mass destruction in their house as a phone book,” said the Republican governor, whose approval ratings are even lower than Reid’s.

Reid’s campaign responded by issuing copies of the police report, the bomb squad notes and several old newspaper stories.  For the first time in months, no one was talking much about Reid’s chances for reelection next year.

They were too busy scratching their heads.

-- Ashley Powers

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Cheers and jeers for Nevada's Harry Reid

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is no doubt divisive: Polls show that about half of Nevada voters don't like him. But it’s still surprising to see who's cheering and jeering him these days. (Though with the election a year away, there’s also plenty of time to change minds.)
 
CHEERING: Progressives who are thrilled with Reid’s announcement today that he’s backing the inclusion of a public option in the Senate’s healthcare legislation (see news video here),....

...although states would be able to opt out of it and it's unclear whether he has the votes to ward off a filibuster.
 
JEERING: Moderates who support a “trigger” plan — in which public health coverage would kick in only if private insurers failed to meet certain benchmarks — and think, like President Obama reportedly does, that it’s more likely to win over conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans.

OUR THOUGHTS: There's along way to go, but if Reid gets the public option into a final bill, it might help him woo progressives who’ve told pollsters they find him weak and ineffective. Those voters wouldn’t have cast ballots for the Republican TBD anyway. But they sure might stay home — there are plenty of other things to do in Las Vegas. 
 
*
 
CHEERING: The parents of embattled Nevada Sen. John Ensign, a Republican, who donated $4,800 to Reid. Some people think that smells funky, since Ensign’s been in political purgatory and Reid has declined to criticize him.  But father Mike Ensign is a former casino executive and Reid has long been a Friend of Gaming.

CHEERING: Casino magnate Steve Wynn, who recently ripped into the Obama administration’s economic policies but supports Reid’s reelection. “My friend of 40 years will protect Americans from this kind of foolishness,” Wynn said of the chief torchbearer for Obama's policies. (Did we mention Reid’s a Friend of Gaming?)

JEERING: Sue Lowden and her casino-owning husband, Paul, who once donated thousands to Reid. Lowden is considered the front-runner among a gaggle of Republicans who’d like to elbow out the majority leader, as the GOP did in 2004 to Tom Daschle, the previous Democratic majority leader.

OUR THOUGHTS: When you’re polling as low as Reid, being a Friend of Gaming might not be enough.
 
*

CHEERING: Rock god/humanitarian Bono, who gave a shout-out to Reid last week during U2’s Las Vegas concert.

JEERING: No one. Bono’s awesome.

OUR THOUGHTS: Bono got 40,000 people to sing "Viva Las Vegas." You think he could push through a public option?

— Ashley Powers

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Photo: Associated Press

Joe Biden gambles on rescuing Nevada's Harry Reid

The question hanging over Democrats as the 2010 midterm elections loom: Has the economic stimulus stimulated, well, anything?

The answer is particularly important in Nevada, where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s reelection could depend on whether the state's battered tourism and construction economy has healed.

VP Joe Biden tried to tackle the issue today in Reno, where he addressed the few Nevadans who can still afford a $2,400-a-plate breakfast with him and Reid. (We're still unsure whether all that cash bought the donor-diners pancakes or eggs.)

And it's a real "bargain" given the $30-grand tab per couple to dine with President Obama last night in San Francisco, as The Ticket described here earlier today.

Earlier this year, Obama flew in for a Reid fundraiser in Las Vegas. But state polls still show unfavorable ratings among Silver State voters. In his remarks today, Biden ticked off some promising economic signs, including the Dow topping 10,000 and a stabilizing housing market (well, in parts of the country that are not Nevada).

“This didn’t happen by accident,” the VP said, according to the White House pool report. “It’s because of the policies the president and I and this guy put together. Are they all perfect? No. Are we out of the woods? No. But we’re in a different place.”

Meanwhile, Republicans used the Reno fundraiser to pummel Obama, Biden, Reid, the stimulus package, Democrats and pancakes (OK, we’re kidding on that last one). It came in a tough one-minute radio ad listenable right here. 

And get this: Republican collects goods for food bank while fat-cat Democrats eat expensive breakfast. Sue Lowden, one of Reid’s potential GOP challengers, passed out coffee and doughnuts this morning – and her grub was free – while collecting canned goods for a food bank and talking about the desperate need for job creation.

So the economic stimulus has, at the very least, stimulated criticism of Reid. Though top state Republicans, including Gov. Jim Gibbons and Sen. John Ensign, initially dismissed the $860+-billion package as pork, the GOP has recently found the spending useful to undermine Reid’s repeated claim that Nevadans shouldn’t throw away his longtime D.C. clout.

To make yet another food reference, the Republican argument pretty much goes like this: If Reid really is such a powerful fellow in charge of the U.S. Senate, why hasn’t the guy brought home more bacon after four long terms?

There remain less than 13 more months to argue that one out.

-- Ashley Powers

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Nevada full of running Reids--Harry, Rory, both in trouble

This week in Nevada, you couldn’t go anywhere without being reminded that a Reid is running for office.

Papa Harry, the Senate majority leader and a top Republican target, aired his first two commercials. “Hard Work” is a fairly traditional reminder of his up-from-Searchlight youth: Dad was a miner, Mom did laundry for a brothel and Harry hitchhiked to high school.

“Nevada Jobs,” is a little more unusual: Jim Murren, the CEO of MGM Mirage, talks about....

how Reid rescued the CityCenter project from bankruptcy. It sort of reminds us of a reality-show confessional, though more staid than those on “The Real World: Las Vegas.”

The underlying message: Nevada, I’m a mover and shaker. You want to go all South Dakota and give that up? Not the best idea, not in this economy.

Harry also announced that he’s raised $12 million, so expect a lot more commercials. Recent polls show the him in deep, deep trouble. So Vice President Joe Biden flies in Friday to help Harry in the Reno area.

Sue Lowden, former head of the state GOP, could beat him right now. Danny Tarkanian, son of a famous basketball coach, could beat him. We’re sure Garth Brooks could beat Reid, too, though his status as a Nevadan is about as shaky as John Chachas'.

Then there’s son Rory, who's widely considered smart and thoughtful, but apparently inherited his dad's (lack of) charisma and terrible polling.  As of Wednesday, Rory is officially running for governor and testing Nevadans’ taste for dynasties. Already, he's blamed unpopular GOP Gov. Jim Gibbons for not securing enough stimulus money, to which a Gibbons aide essentially retorted: It’s your dad’s fault! 
This could get real ugly for every Reid involved.

-- Ashley Powers

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Forget Perez Hilton, Miss America goes for Judge Rush Limbaugh

Also, forget Harry Reid vs. Republican TBD. 

Or John Ensign vs. his own poor decisions.

The upcoming Las Vegas contest we’ll be watching: Rush Limbaugh vs. Perez Hilton.

Which uber-personality wrings more political headlines from a beauty pageant?

Hilton, the scrappy celebrity gossip blogger turned this year’s Miss USA contest into a fine piece of political theater by asking Miss California Carrie Prejean her views on same-sex marriage.

(Marriage = one man + one woman, the soon-to-be-beleaguered contestant responded, which likely cost her the crown, although it's the same stance as President Obama, who has not yet won that award.)  

Now, the Miss America pageant, which also takes place in the American capital of understatement come January, has announced its own button-pushing judge: Limbaugh is to conservatives what Hilton is to the celebrity-fixated.

Though previous Miss America judges have included MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, whose Democratic leanings and thrilled leg are of little doubt, neither he nor Hilton has inspired as much admiration and revulsion as the king of the radio Dittoheads.

“We know he’s very blunt,” Art McMaster, Miss America Organization president, told The Kats Report blog in a statement of the very, very obvious. 

While neither pageant has blatant political leanings, it is interesting that, as both struggle to remain relevant, one grabbed a conservative headline-maker, the other someone more liberal. (At least on gay rights issues. We're not sure where Hilton stands on the economic stimulus package.)

Here’s an idea (No, not that the judges wear Speedos):

With partisan spars and taunts tainting just about everything these days – President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize, anyone?  -- maybe it’s time for the pageants to dive, tiara first, into the culture wars.

Just imagine: Miss USA stumps for ACORN. And, fair and balanced, Miss America gets her own show on Fox News.

As for the swimsuit competition? That's easy. America wears red, USA blue.

-- Ashley Powers

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Photos: Rob Carr / Associated Press (FYI, that's Limbaugh on the left side this time, but he's looking to the right); Michael Loccisano / Getty Images (Hilton underdressing for an awards show); Associated Press (swimsuit).