Will people forgive?

A day after unveiling his campaign for Mayor of NY – with a snazzy You Tube video – former Congressman Anthony Weiner gave his first live interview to WNYC’s Brian Lehrer, who decided:

“To deal first with the elephant in the room,” Lehrer said.

And for the next five minutes, Leherer examined that elephant from the head to the nect, to the tail.

“What do you say to people who used to like you or do like you but are frankly creeped out?”

Until he finally got to the tip of the trunk:

“Any other shoes to drop that you maybe want to get out yourself before somebody else does?” asked Leherer.

It’s the kind of question where you’d like to be answer NO.

“I did these inappropriate things over an extended period of time with more than one person,” said Weiner.

I sense he’s trying to prepare us for something here.

“These women are not public figures but may decide they want to come forward and say, ‘Here is another email that I got, or another photo there.’ But I’m going to keep leaning forward and talk about the issues important to New York City.”

I believe he’s saying there could be a sequel.

The latest poll shows Weiner at 15 percent, but as we saw in South Carolina, voters forgave Mark Sanford for betraying his wife even though she left him, whereas Mrs Weiner decided to stay. And he has by far the biggest name recognition. Although perhaps not for the best of reasons.