Spitzer and Weiner Lead in New Poll Because Scandal Brought Name Recognition

A little scandal never hurt anyone, especially in New York City, where the scandal-plagued comeback kids in the civic elections are leading over their more straitlaced opponents. The latest numbers have Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer both sitting pretty--which is to say, they're on top.

In the latest Quinnipiac poll, former congressman Weiner is ahead of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, his biggest competition, by 25 to 22 percent in the race for mayor. And former governor Eliot Spitzer is beating Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer by 48 percent to 33 percent in the race for city comptroller. The fallen golden boys don't look quite so tainted now.

What Spitzer and Weiner have in common over their opponents is an early and aggressive marketing campaign via sex scandal. Being bad is good in New York, for better or for worse. People may know Weiner because of his sexually explicit-sexting scandal or Spitzer because of his dalliances with ladies of the night, but it's working for the two candidates. Other than those two, polled citizens were practically indifferent to every other choice. When pollsters were asked to pass a favorable or unfavorable opinion about the candidates, Weiner and Spitzer are the only two whose "haven't heard enough" scores came in under 20 percent. No one knows who the other guys are. 

New York City voters should be required to take an eye test, they are blind, and their memories are short. It is a travesty to think that two men, with NO character, could be elected to public office .... Oh, wait, no, I'm sorry, integrity means nothing any more, just name recognition. "Yes, I have heard of Weiner, he posted nude photos of himself on the internet, and Spitzer, oh yes, he helped support hookers in New York, I've heard of them both, my biggest concern though, I think that Weiner is not spelling his name properly, it should be Wiener to be correct ..... and he showed pictures of his ..... what ..... now I know it's not spelled right."

New York, New York, it's a hell of a state......................

"Hmmm, I wonder who I'll call tonight?"

(CNN) -- The rest of the world is probably asking what's in the drinking water here in New York, where ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who resigned in 2008 when his hiring of hookers came to light, surprised everybody by announcing a bid for city comptroller.

Spitzer, dubbed the Love Guv by the city's tabloids, leaps back into the political arena less than two months after former Rep. Anthony Weiner (who'd resigned after texting obscene photos to strangers) announced a run for mayor.

Which raises the admittedly uncomfortable possibility that the city's top two elected officials will be two nationally-known, high-profile married politicians with less than honorable sex-related behavior on their resumes.

But that's as far as the similarities go. Spitzer and Weiner have very different histories, committed fundamentally different offenses and will face dramatically different odds in the few weeks left before voters head to the polls in the all-important Sept. 10 Democratic primary.

Start with the crimes. Weiner, whose scandalously bawdy texts and photos never involved actually physically meeting up with a woman, spent a week lying about the incidents on any number of local and national television outlets, claiming that his House of Representatives account had been hacked. That, in turn, led to calls for an FBI inquiry, after which Weiner's tower of lies collapsed.

Spitzer, by contrast, simply admitted that he'd hired hookers, apologized for his misbehavior and quit. He now campaigns without the baggage, which Weiner still carries, of having lied to the public and press repeatedly.

When it comes to the record each man brings to the campaign trail, it's not even a close call. In more than eight years as state attorney general and 14 months as governor, Spitzer compiled a string of high-profile wins in battles with Wall Street and prosecutions on behalf of low-paid workers. He also implemented a historic increase of state funding to local school districts and appointed the state's first Latina secretary of state.