FOR ANTHONY WEINER, NOT JUST ANOTHER DAY ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Anthony D. Weiner, the embattled candidate for mayor of New York City, acknowledged on Thursday that he had engaged in inappropriate online communications with up to three women since leaving Congress two years ago, as his campaign entered a troubled and circuslike phase.
The remarks were his most detailed yet on his actions in the months after he resigned from office, in June 2011. Mr. Weiner had left many voters with the impression that his lewd behavior had ceased after his resignation, but after another episode became widely known on Tuesday, he acknowledged that his habit of sending messages to young women he met online had continued.

Mr. Weiner, a Democrat, said he was still seeking professional help for his online behavior, which he did not believe was an addiction.
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The blog called The Dirty posted what it said were uncensored photographs of his penis, taken from various angles, and said Mr. Weiner had sent the pictures to a woman, [who] publicly identified herself for the first time  The images quickly zoomed across social media sites.



The woman, 22-year-old Sydney Leathers, ...in an interview with “Inside Edition,” a television show, which released excerpts from its report. “I’m disgusted by him,” she told the show. “He’s not who I thought he was.”

During the interview, Ms. Leathers was asked whether she told Mr. Weiner that she loved him. “Yes,” she replied. Asked if Mr. Weiner had said he loved her, she replied, “Yes.”

Asked what advice she would now give Mr. Weiner, she said, “Stop lying, stop embarrassing his wife and get help.”
Read it at THE N.Y. TIMES
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....people close to the woman, ...have begun to talk. “God help New York if he gets elected,” said her mother, who lives in Illinois. A childhood friend said Leathers told her last summer she was texting with Weiner. “I go, ‘Really? THE Anthony Weiner, Mr. Penis Guy?’” the friend said. “I said, ‘Doesn’t he have a wife?’ She said, ‘Oh yeah.’ She just kind of brushed it off like it was nothing.” The friend said Leathers likely tried to get to Weiner on purpose. “He was so stupid to get involved with someone like her.” Other high school friends (who of course may no longer be friends) said her “main goal” was to become famous.

Read it at New York Daily News

July 25, 2013 8:13 AM




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 [Meanwhile] he just couldn't keep it up. ....A new poll from NBC and The Wall Street Journal shows his support has plummeted 14 percentage points. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn now leads with 25 percent of Democratic support compared to 16 percent for Weiner. It's the first poll conducted since the new revelations came to light.... 

If Weiner dropped out, Quinn’s support would rise to 30 percent, according to a Marist poll, taken immediately before his latest sexual twitter admissions.  [But the poll indicated] she would lose to Thompson in a runoff.
 Read it at USA Today

July 25, 2013 12:43 PM

“This kind of behavior is very bad,” said Kishore Belani, the owner of a video company in Queens who recently donated to Mr. Weiner’s campaign after attending a fund-raiser for him. “I don’t think that he deserves another chance.”

“I have children,” he added. “For children, this is not a good politician to learn from. A politician has to be clean, no matter what.”

NAME RECOGNITION TRUMPS PAST TRANSGRESSIONS: WEINER AND SPITZER LEAD.

(CNN) – With less than two months to go until primary day in New York City, a new poll indicates that two candidates hoping to come back from scandals that sidetracked their political careers are both edging out their opponents.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday, former New York state Gov. Eliot Spitzer leads Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer 48%-33% in the Democratic primary race for New York City comptroller, the city's chief budget officer. Spitzer, who resigned as governor in 2008 after revelations he spent thousands of dollars on prostitutes, jumped into the comptroller race just over a week ago.

And the poll indicates that former Rep. Anthony Weiner has the backing of 25% of likely New York City Democratic primary voters, three points ahead of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the former frontrunner. Former Comptroller William Thompson is at 11%, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is at 10%, with everyone else in single digits.



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According to the Quinnipiac poll, strong support among black voters is helping both Spitzer and Weiner. Spitzer leads Stringer 61%-26% among black voters. In the mayoral primary battle, Weiner has the backing of 31% of black voters, far ahead of Quinn at 16%, with Thompson, the only major black candidate in the mayoral field, at 14%.
As for gender, men back Spitzer 53%-33% while women support him by a smaller 44%-32% margin. Weiner tops Quinn 29%-21% among men but narrowly trails 23%-21% among women.
To the probable disadvantage of the other candidates, Weiner and Spitzer have dominated the news coverage of the mayoral and comptroller races, thanks to their scandals and their bids for political second chances.