Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who resigned from Congress after tweeting lewd pictures of his junk to women online, is considering a political comeback.
For one of the highest-profile offices in the U.S., no less.
Weiner said he hopes to enter this year's New York City mayoral race, saying that the five boroughs' voters might be willing to give him a second chance.
"I don't have a burning, overriding desire to go and run for office," said Weiner, a Democrat who coveted the job long before his infamous scandal.
"It's not the single animating force in my life as it was for some time. But I do recognize, to some degree, it's now or maybe never for me, in terms of running."
That comment, which he claims came only after $100,000 spend on polling, promised to shake up the race five months before the September 10 primary.
While City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has held a commanding lead in public opinion polls for the Democratic primary, it's still a wide open race.
Once seen as a rising star among Democrats, Weiner, 48, established himself as a firebrand and leading liberal voice in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Weiner, who resigned from Congress in June 2011 before completing his seventh term, already made one unsuccessful run for NYC mayor in 2005.
What one would have considered unthinkable just two years ago now seems surprisingly viable for him, given the current political climate in the city.
Insiders have bemoaned the lack of star wattage from any candidates in either political party to follow Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent.
Bloomberg's failure to endorse any of the current candidates has contributed to the sense that the race for mayor has yet to catch fire - and is anyone's game.
Weiner's downfall came quickly in 2011 after he accidentally posted a lewd photograph of himself on Twitter, though he and wife Huma Abedin are still together.
"We are ready to clear the decks on this thing," he said.
"People are generally prepared to get over it, but they don't know if they're prepared to vote for me. And there's a healthy number of people who will never get over it."
Now the father of a one-year-old child, he adds, "It's also complicated because I always attracted a fairly substantial amount of people who didn't like me anyway."
In related news, a wide-ranging NYC mayoral bribery scandal was uncovered last month. At least Weiner's only crime was ... sexting out of wedlock?
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