Former congressional aide Doug Hampton started a political wildfire earlier this year when he went public with a story about an affair between Hampton’s wife Cynthia and his boss Sen. John Ensign. Hampton tried to give the story to Fox News, but the fair and balanced network showed little interest in skewering a nice Republican boy like Ensign. Hampton then spilled the beans on Face to Face with Jon Ralston, and Ensign’s days have been numbered ever since.

So where’s he been hiding for the past several months? Hampton has kept the lowest of profiles, leaving the story to percolate along on its own steam. National and local news organizations have tried and failed to coax him into spilling more beans. The story is about to take a sharp turn. Hampton is talking once again.

A network news team has been in town over the past few days and somehow bagged a three-hour, in-depth, blood-and-guts interview with Hampton. Persons familiar with the discussion say Hampton was absolutely brutal in his assessment of Sen. Ensign. Hampton may even have admitted he broke the law when he accepted Ensign’s help in landing a lobbying job, then turned around and lobbied his ex-boss on behalf of corporate clients, but from what I’ve been told, Hampton told the network folks that Ensign’s violations of the law were far more serious and were undertaken with full knowledge that they were illegal.

It’s uncertain how specific Hampton was in describing the torrid sexual affair between Ensign and Mrs. Hampton (who is also a close friend of Ensign’s wife, Darlene), but any interview that lasts three hours provides plenty of opportunity to discuss in great, prurient detail who did what to whom and how often.

Word of the Hampton interview is being kept hush-hush for the time being. The network is hoping to get it on the air by next week and is worried that Hampton might be tempted to speak to other journalists before they break the scoop. It’s a safe bet the network producers will contact Sen. Ensign for comments about Hampton’s newly expanded allegations, although Ensign has repeatedly announced he isn’t saying anything further about the scandal.

And while we’re on the subject, where the hell is Mrs. Hampton? Doesn’t she ever go grocery shopping, get her hair done, visit the gym? She’s all but disappeared from public view, and reportedly did not speak to the network crew. Come on, CityLife readers, grab that cell phone cam and get out there to find her!