Democrats today are criticizing newly minted U.S. Senate candidate Sue Lowden because of her support for embattled U.S. Sen. John Ensign. Recall Lowden tried to organize a letter of support for Ensign after the senator confessed to an affair with a campaign aide who was also the wife of a good friend and employee of Ensign’s. (She reportedly failed to convince enough Republican county chairman to sign on, so the letter was never issued.)

Now, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is going after Lowden for her fealty to Ensign, the subject of a damning New York Times story Friday that alleged he helped the husband of his mistress get lobbying jobs that violated the one-year cooling-off period required of high-ranking Senate employees. Lowden told the Elko Daily Free Press that she’d welcome campaign support from Ensign. Here’s what the Democrats had to say in a statement today:

Today, with the prospects growing that both the Senate and the Justice Department will launch a full scale ethics investigation into Senator John Ensign of Nevada, Ensign’s close ally Sue Lowden has doubled-down on her statement of support for him, even as other Republican leaders have distanced themselves from the embattled senator. Last week, as Lowden officially launched her Senate campaign, she told reporters that she would “welcome” Ensign’s support for her campaign. Since then, Ensign has taken a beating, with a front page New York Times article detailing the legal and ethical problems facing Ensign, and now multiple outlets are reporting that Ensign is very likely to be the subject of an intense investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee and the Justice Department, which could happen as soon as this week. A front-page POLITICO headline today screams out “Isolation Grows For Ensign,” while the Washington Post eviscerated Ensign in a scathing editorial today. Ensign is hemorrhaging staff members, with staffers fleeing his office in droves. The non-partisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is calling on Ensign to resign immediately. Even after all of this, Lowden continues to stand by Ensign, with the Elko Daily [Free Press] reporting that Lowden is standing by her comments that she hopes Ensign will play a prominent role in her campaign.

“The most disturbing aspect of Sue Lowden’s reaffirmation of Ensign is that she did so fully aware of his potentially criminal conduct,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Communications Director Eric Schultz. “Sue Lowden’s support of John Ensign may have fundraising value to her, but it is a reflection of her own character and fitness for office. She has shown more fidelity to him, than he has shown to his own wife.”

Ouch, baby. It’s outrageous because it’s true. The Democrats go on to attach Lowden’s name to two other scandal-plagued members of the GOP in Nevada, thus: “Scandal is nothing new in the Nevada Republican Party however, in fact in many ways it is business as usual. Nevada Republican Governor Jim Gibbons, Lt. Governor Brian Krolicki, and Ensign are all embroiled in scandals, with Krolicki already facing criminal charges, and Ensign following closely in his footsteps. Will Sue Lowden stand by Gibbons and Krolicki as loyally as she has stood with Ensign?”

Ordinarily, it would be stretching things to link Lowden with any of the above. But she did say she wanted Ensign to campaign with her, which is odd. Why link a fresh candidacy with few negatives to a man who now actually defines “negatives”?

UPDATE: Actually, you can link Lowden to Gibbons, too. Or at least Gibbons thinks so.