Affair admission leads to cancellation of bash

Add this to the human toll taken by Sen. John Ensign's sex scandal: It's forced the cancellation of a rockin' party.

An "Ensign Reunion" of the senator's former staffers had just been scheduled when Ensign went before the cameras last month to declare that he'd had an extramarital affair with a woman who worked for his campaign, Cindy Hampton.

"Please join Senator John Ensign and staff this summer for a few days in Lake Tahoe (South Shore) to reconnect, share some fond memories and have a fantastic time!" said an e-mail that went out on June 5.

The retreat was to be held Aug. 19-21 at Harrah's Lake Tahoe, according to the save-the-date card, which carried the slogan: "15 Years of Changing Lives & Building Relationships for a Lifetime."

But not long after the invitees marked their calendars, on June 16, Ensign made his disclosure. And on July 7, another e-mail went out to the Ensign Reunion list.

"Dear Friends," it said, "The Ensign Reunion originally scheduled for August 2009 has been postponed. We will be in touch when we have the new dates."

The organizers of the event, one current and one former Ensign Senate staffer, didn't return calls seeking comment last week. Not known: whether the Hamptons had been invited.

GIBBONS SURGES, SORT OF

A Review-Journal poll conducted last week to assess the further fallout of l'affaire Ensign found that while the senator's rating continues to dive, other top officials are holding steady. And Gov. Jim Gibbons' favorability is even up a tick from a month ago.

The poll, conducted last Tuesday and Wednesday, put the percentage of Nevada voters who view Ensign favorably at 31 percent, down 8 points from when the same question was asked in June and 22 points from May.

That puts Ensign's rating lower than that of Sen. Harry Reid for the first time. Reid's favorable number was 34 percent, unchanged from June. In May, Reid was at 38 percent.

President Barack Obama was, like Reid, holding steady, at 48 percent favorable, compared with 49 percent in June. In May, he was at 55 percent.

Gibbons' favorable number went all the way up to 14 percent -- up from just 10 percent in June, but still below his 17 percent showing in the May poll.

Brad Coker, managing partner of the polling firm, Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc., had no explanation for the surge. He pointed to the survey's margin of error: The poll of 400 Nevadans who vote regularly in state elections carried a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

And Coker noted that whether it's 10, 14 or 17, Gibbons' ratings are abysmal -- apparently the worst of any governor in the nation. (Next worst appears to be New York Gov. David Paterson, who was at 18 percent in a June SurveyUSA poll.)

"Going from 10 to 14 is hardly the trend that is going to propel Gibbons to a strong re-election," Coker said.

OBAMA LURES DEAD PRESIDENTS

The May fundraiser headlined by Obama brought in $1.47 million to split between Reid's campaign and the Nevada State Democratic Party, according to a report filed last week with the Federal Election Commission.

The money from the presidential fundraiser went to a joint account, the Reid Victory Fund, set up specially for the occasion. The fund, in turn, doled out most of that money to Reid and the Democrats based on federal contribution limits.

An individual can give $4,800 per election cycle to a candidate and $10,000 to a party.

Reid's campaign originally had said the Obama fundraiser, held May 26 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, brought in close to $2 million.

Campaign manager Brandon Hall said that there were still commitments outstanding from the fundraiser that, once they come in, would push the total over $1.8 million.

About 4,000 people attended the fundraiser, which also featured entertainers Bette Midler and Sheryl Crow. The event was Obama's first-ever campaign event as president for an individual candidate.

Of the $1.47 million, the Reid Victory Fund spent $253,000 to put on the event and distributed $942,000 to the campaign and party: $418,000 to Friends for Harry Reid and $523,000 to the state party, according to Hall.

That leaves $279,000 in cash on hand in the fund, money that will be divvied up according to legal requirements, Hall said.

The fund will not itself engage in any campaign activities, though it may remain in existence in case it's needed for future high-profile joint fundraising events.

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DOLLAR

Rep. Dina Titus raised nearly $250,000, while Rep. Shelley Berkley raised more than $410,000 in the second quarter, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission last week by the two Nevada Democrats.

Titus' $248,000 in campaign donations in April, May and June of this year combines with her previous fundraising to put her at $563,000 for the current election cycle. Her cash on hand stands at $441,000.

Titus has a probable Republican opponent in Las Vegas bank executive John Guedry, but he apparently has not started to raise money yet. Candidates don't have to file with the FEC until they raise more than $5,000.

Berkley, whose heavily Democratic district is all but guaranteed to re-elect her to a seventh term, had raised nearly $800,000 in the current election cycle, including $411,000 in the second quarter. Her cash on hand was $1.3 million.

That formidable war chest would certainly come in handy if Berkley decides to run for U.S. Senate, a prospect she has been floating since the advent of the Ensign story.

The state's third member of the House of Representatives, Republican Dean Heller, reported raising $166,000 for the quarter and $265,000 for the cycle, with $255,000 on hand and $287,000 in debt.

ON THE BIG LIST

As expected, former Gov. Bob List was elected the Nevada Republican Party's new national committeeman at last week's special meeting of the party's Central Committee, held at an Italian restaurant in Summerlin.

List easily staved off a challenge from Jeffrey Buntrock, an activist belonging to the Ron Paul wing of the party.

Committee members apparently weren't persuaded by Buntrock noting that, like departing committeeman Joe Brown, he was an alumnus of Virginia's Washington and Lee University.

Brown, who had to leave the partisan position to sit on the state Gaming Commission, noted that it can cost its holder $20,000 to $50,000 a year. In endorsing List for the job, he said, "Unlike me, he has stature. I'm 5 (foot)-7."

Perhaps more interesting, over an evening of speeches by would-be candidates and party officials, there was almost no mention of Ensign -- a sharp contrast to the South Carolina Republican Party, which recently voted to censure disgraced Gov. Mark Sanford.

The only exception, at the Nevada meeting: perennial candidate Ed Hamilton, who plans to run for U.S. Senate against Harry Reid next year. Hamilton, who has called on Ensign to resign, pointed out that he ran against "the dishonorable" Ensign in the 2006 Republican primary.

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.