It's official: Anthony Weiner is running for mayor of New York City. In a new video, Weiner appears with his wife, Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, to ask New Yorkers to give him a "second chance" after admitting to making some "big mistakes."
A Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday suggests Weiner has some ground to make up. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn currently leads the pack of Democratic candidates with 25 percent of the potential vote, with Weiner in second place at 15 percent.
Unsurprisingly, Weiner — who resigned from Congress in 2011 after being caught sending photos of his crotch to women he met on the internet, then lying about it — isn't very popular with female voters. The poll, taken before Weiner's announcement on Wednesday morning, shows that 52 percent of women did not think he should enter race, compared to only 35 percent who thought he should.
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The campaign video indulges in plenty of New York nostalgia, including shots of Weiner walking through his old Brooklyn neighborhood where, he claims, he used to play "stickball" in the streets.
In the end, he points to his 64-point plan for New York City, which includes removing barriers to obtaining food stamps, reforming rent regulations, and replacing textbooks with Kindles.
It's not clear how many Democratic allies Weiner will have in the race. As Kevin Robillard notes at Politico, Weiner's former mentor, Sen. Chuck Schumer, has stayed mum about supporting him. Both Clintons have refused to endorse a candidate.
Weiner does have some advantages. As The Wall Street Journal's Andrew Grossman points out, Weiner was very popular in his district as a congressman, and the frontrunner to replace Mayor Michael Bloomberg before the Twitter scandal. He also has $3.4 million sitting in a city campaign account that he raised before he resigned.
The election will be held on Nov. 5.
