Weiner's Weiner Opens Door for Alec Baldwin

New York Representative Anthony Weiner's twitter “scandal” has pundits ruling Weiner out of a 2013 run to replace New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Weiner himself has not ruled out any future runs, but right now, his focus is clearly on undoing the damage to his image and determining whether to relent to pressure to resign from office. Weiner's image, built up over a career of servicing his constituents, has taken a pounding this week. Liberal Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has called for an ethics investigation into Weiner's behavior, including an investigation into whether he broke any laws while flirting online. Republicans and a few Democrats have called on him to resign. The congressman admitted this week to a handful of online indiscretions, including tweeting somewhat tame pictures of himself and his privates to admirers. The winner in all of this might be a political ally, as actor and activist Alec Baldwin's name has been tossed around as a potential candidate for the Mayoral race that Weiner was no doubt targeting as his next career move. Weiner had raised a large sum of campaign cash and was an early front-runner to replace Bloomberg. For his part, Baldwin is doing the same “Maybe I will, maybe I won't” tap-dance that Donald Trump perfected over the last year. "I wouldn't rule it out," Baldwin's spokesman, Matthew Hiltzik, said Wednesday when asked about Baldwin possibly running for mayor. Baldwin has been rumored to be seeking public office before. His interest in politics is well-known, and he can be outspoken on issues he is passionate about. As for this race? Baldwin, taking the Weiner story full-circle, wrote on Twitter that, “It's a long way till November of 2013.” Baldwin was interested before in running for a Congressional seat, but has not yet had an opportunity to really do so. “I'll put it this way,” Baldwin said. “The desire is there; that's one component. The other component is opportunity.” “Unfortunately, an opportunity for me may mean bad things for someone else,” Baldwin said. “I don't wish that.” Like it or not, Weiner's mistakes may have provided Baldwin the opportunity he needs to seize the wide-open mayoral race. Whether he will grab on with both hands and see the race to completion remains to be seen.