Anthony D. Weiner, once a rising star of New York politics whose career cratered over revelations of his sexually explicit life on-line, announced an improbable bid on Wednesday for the job he has long coveted: mayor.
After a rocky re-emergence into public life over the past few weeks, marked by circuslike scenes of tabloid photographers chasing him onto the subway, Mr. Weiner opted to declare his candidacy from the safe remove of a video.
His candidacy, fueled by a $5 million war chest and a determination to resurrect his public standing, promises to immediately disrupt a wide open Democratic primary race populated by several lesser-known candidates.
But it is beset by heavy baggage, starting with the deep ambivalence of voters to whom Mr. Weiner lied two years ago, when he indignantly denied that he had sent a Internet image of himself in his underwear to a college student in Seattle.
Mr. Weiner, 48, eventually admitted to a secret practice of befriending young female admirers over the Internet and engaging in intimate sexual banter with them, sometimes sending them lewd self portraits taken with his BlackBerry.
Since he resigned from Congress under intense pressure from Democratic Party leaders in the summer of 2011, Mr. Weiner has opened a strategic consulting firm that allowed him to cash in on his Washington connections.
But he has remained on the sidelines as the city grappled with contentious debates over a living wage requirement, mandatory paid stick leave for workers and a ban on large sugary drinks, inviting inevitable questions about why he is returning to politics now.
His nascent campaign has struggled to attract marquee political strategists, as it has faced the rejection of many potential recruits and been forced to turn to a 30-year-old with little experience in New York as a campaign manager.
But Mr. Weiner’s raw talents, as a tireless political tactician and verbal jouster, are hard to discount, making him a formidable opponent even in light of his troubles.
His political philosophy has always been something of an anomaly in the city’s Democratic world. He has called for a single-payer health care system and pushed for hybrid taxis even as he has called for tax cuts and voted for the war in Iraq.
Friends and former aides expect him to stake out similar territory in his run for mayor, casting himself as a centrist champion of the city’s vanishing middle class.
This time around, he will be missing a longtime calling card: his reputation as an in-the-trenches champion of the boroughs outside of Manhattan.
That identity propelled him to a six-term Congressional career representing Brooklyn and Queens.
Last year, though, Mr. Weiner moved from Forest Hills, Queens, to Gramercy Park in Manhattan, where he lives in a four-bedroom luxury apartment with his wife, Huma Abedin, a former close adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton, and his young son, Jordan.
After a rocky re-emergence into public life over the past few weeks, marked by circuslike scenes of tabloid photographers chasing him onto the subway, Mr. Weiner opted to declare his candidacy from the safe remove of a video.
His candidacy, fueled by a $5 million war chest and a determination to resurrect his public standing, promises to immediately disrupt a wide open Democratic primary race populated by several lesser-known candidates.
But it is beset by heavy baggage, starting with the deep ambivalence of voters to whom Mr. Weiner lied two years ago, when he indignantly denied that he had sent a Internet image of himself in his underwear to a college student in Seattle.
Mr. Weiner, 48, eventually admitted to a secret practice of befriending young female admirers over the Internet and engaging in intimate sexual banter with them, sometimes sending them lewd self portraits taken with his BlackBerry.
Since he resigned from Congress under intense pressure from Democratic Party leaders in the summer of 2011, Mr. Weiner has opened a strategic consulting firm that allowed him to cash in on his Washington connections.
But he has remained on the sidelines as the city grappled with contentious debates over a living wage requirement, mandatory paid stick leave for workers and a ban on large sugary drinks, inviting inevitable questions about why he is returning to politics now.
His nascent campaign has struggled to attract marquee political strategists, as it has faced the rejection of many potential recruits and been forced to turn to a 30-year-old with little experience in New York as a campaign manager.
But Mr. Weiner’s raw talents, as a tireless political tactician and verbal jouster, are hard to discount, making him a formidable opponent even in light of his troubles.
His political philosophy has always been something of an anomaly in the city’s Democratic world. He has called for a single-payer health care system and pushed for hybrid taxis even as he has called for tax cuts and voted for the war in Iraq.
Friends and former aides expect him to stake out similar territory in his run for mayor, casting himself as a centrist champion of the city’s vanishing middle class.
This time around, he will be missing a longtime calling card: his reputation as an in-the-trenches champion of the boroughs outside of Manhattan.
That identity propelled him to a six-term Congressional career representing Brooklyn and Queens.
Last year, though, Mr. Weiner moved from Forest Hills, Queens, to Gramercy Park in Manhattan, where he lives in a four-bedroom luxury apartment with his wife, Huma Abedin, a former close adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton, and his young son, Jordan.