Brian Beutler July 20, 2010, 1:06 PM

If you’re a political candidate, sleeping with your estranged stepson’s estranged wife, it’s helpful if you can fall back on an excuse like “well, at least she’s not one of several prostitutes.”

And, indeed, that’s the fallback position Chet Traylor is left with today, only a month to go before Louisiana Republicans will face the decision of whether Traylor or incumbent Senator David Vitter will be the GOP candidate in November. The Springer-esque details are laid out in a News Star article today and, while they certainly harm Traylor’s reputation as a scandal-free alternative to Vitter, they don’t involve prostitutes, or knife attacks against women. So, there’s that.

The time line is as follows:

Democratic State Rep. Noble Ellington claims that Traylor was “significantly involved” in the long-ago dissolution of Ellingon’s marriage to Peggy McDowell, who went on to become Peggy McDowell-Traylor.

Traylor denies having anything to do with his now-deceased wife’s divorce, leaving us to wonder which man — Traylor or Ellington — is telling the truth, with no way to confirm either story.

McDowell-Traylor later died, leaving behind two sons — Ryan and Noble Ellington — but no will. The sons are now suing Traylor for blocking access to information about their mother’s estate. But at least one of those sons has another reason to dislike his ex-stepfather. Turns out Traylor is now romantically involved with Ryan Ellington’s estranged wife, Denise Lively — though all parties take pains to confirm that Lively’s relationship with Traylor began after her separation from Ellington.

If we’ve done our genealogy correctly, that means Traylor is now dating his deceased wife’s daughter-in-law, who’s about to divorce Traylor’s stepson. That may not be family values conservatism in the strictest sense. But at least nobody’s a prostitute, and nobody’s resorted to physical violence.

Chet Traylor, David Vitter, LA-SEN, Republicans