NYC Democrats In A Forgiving Mood ?

A few months ago it looked like the political careers of Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer were over. Both were caught in some extra-marital sexual misconduct -- Weiner for sending sexually-explicit photos of himself to several women, and Spitzer for using the services of some high-dollar prostitutes. Both resigned their elected positions. Now it looks like they may be on the comeback trail.

Weiner is running for mayor of New York City, and Spitzer has tossed his name in the ring to be that city's comptroller. And it looks like New York City Democrats may be ready to forgive them for their sexual peccadillos. A new poll shows both with a strong chance to win the Democratic primary to be held on September 10th.

The poll is the recent Quinnipiac University Poll (taken of 738 registered NYC Democrats between July 8th and 14th -- with a 3.6 point margin of error), and it shows both Weiner and Spitzer leading in their respective races. Weiner's lead over Christine Quinn is within the poll's margin of error, so the outcome of that race could go either way, but Weiner has been going up in the poll's since he annouced his candidacy. Spitzer, on the other hand, is a solid favorite to win his race.

I don't really care much who wins the mayoralty contest, since I live a long way from that wonderful city. But I am happy to see Eliot Spitzer starting to revive his political career. That's because he has shown in the past that he is not afraid to take on the monied interests of Wall Street and hold their feet to the fire -- and that is something I wish more politicians were brave enough to do.

How have these two men been able to come back from political oblivion? The poll tries to answer that question. It seems that most people, while they don't approve of sexual misconduct, don't consider it to be the unforgivable sin that financial corruption is considered to be. When the poll asked whether financial impropriety or sexual misconduct was worse, the results weren't even close. Here are the numbers:

WHICH IS WORSE?
Sexual misconduct...............22%
Financial impropriety...............69%
Unsure...............9%

It is still about 8 weeks until the city's Democratic primary, and anything could still happen. But right now it looks like both men may be well on their way to resurrecting their political careers.