Wanted: A Program to Follow the Ensign Scandal

OK, I need more than a chronology (not that the timeline released by Sen. John Ensign's press office isn't helpful). I need a flow chart.

As scandal watchers know, the former GOP rising star had a 10-month affair, from December 2007 to August 2008, with his former campaign treasurer, Cindy Hampton, whose husband, Doug Hampton, was Ensign's administrative assistant, the title held on Capitol Hill for congressional chiefs of staff. Ensign and his wife Darlene, who have three children, were separated when the extramarital affair began but have reconciled. Previous to and during part of the time frame, Ensign and his family were also "close friends" with the other couple. The Hamptons' son also worked on the senator's reelection campaign.

The affair, political posts, and, apparently, the friendships have all ended. Each couple is presumably working on repairing its monogamous domestic arrangement. Thankfully, for the voyeurs in the crowd, they will be doing some of it in public. The senator, who had gone silent on Twitter, announced his marital infidelity at a press conference after an unverified allegation that Mr. Hampton came "seeking a large sum of money." (The Las Vegas Sun reports there are no extortion investigations by the FBI nor the Las Vegas Police Department.)

The Hamptons' Las Vegas lawyer, Daniel Albregts, says stay tuned. In due time, "the Hamptons will be ready and willing to tell their side of the story." Maybe they'll be kind enough to include a relationship diagram?