Ensign fielding lackluster lineup

Top-notch Senate candidates sitting out

By J. Patrick Coolican, Lisa Mascaro
Las Vegas Sun

Washington — John Ensign has a terrible job, and it got worse this week.

As chairman of the National Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Nevada senator is trying to get Republicans elected to the Senate.

Ensign already faced a challenging environment, with the Republican brand badly damaged in the face of the war in Iraq, a sputtering economy and a series of inside-the-Beltway GOP scandals.

Democrats will pick up at least two seats this fall, most observers expect, and possibly as many as seven.

The outlook turned even bleaker for Ensign after Tuesday’s primaries, which produced a slate of Republican victors who have little chance of winning in November.

“You sometimes have disappointments,” Ensign said. “We had fantastic potential recruits, we just couldn’t sign (them up). It was a year that would be totally different if we could get our A-plus candidates involved.”

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