Ex-Congressman Weiner, a Twitter casualty, unveils new account

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Congressman Anthony Weiner is back on Twitter with a new account as he eyes a political comeback and bid for New York City mayor 2 years after he resigned in disgrace for posting a sexually suggestive image of himself on the social website.

The account, @AnthonyWeiner, gives Weiner a new slate on which to promote his public policy ideas as he publicly weighs entering the mayor's race less than five months ahead of the city's Democratic primary.

Once seen as a rising star among Democrats, Weiner, 48, established himself as a leading liberal voice in the U.S. House of Representatives and was considered a front-runner for mayor until his fall from grace. Weiner, who resigned from Congress in June 2011 before completing his seventh term, made an unsuccessful run for mayor in 2005.

After keeping a low profile, he burst back onto the political scene this month when The New York Times Magazine published a lengthy article about Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin, an aide to former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Last week, an NBC New York-Marist poll found that Weiner would enter the mayor's race in second place, behind City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Weiner's rehatched Twitter presence also means that he must re-build his following. While the old account, @repweiner, has 67,758 followers, the new account had fewer than 4,000 followers by late Monday afternoon, though that number was growing rapidly.

In June 2011, Weiner was ensnared in a scandal after he used Twitter to share a sexually suggestive photograph of himself with a woman, but accidentally posted it to all his "followers" on the website instead. He initially insisted that he was not behind the tweet, but admitted the mistake in a tearful news conference after other women said they had also exchanged sexually charged messages with the Congressman.

(Reporting by Edith Honan; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Richard Chang)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-congressman-weiner-twitter-casualty-unveils-account-214415090.html

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