Two of New York's biggest newspapers are calling on Anthony Weiner to drop out of the race for New York City mayor, after the former congressman acknowledged sending explicit text messages to a woman as recently as last summer.

 

New York tabloid headlines about Anthony Weiner
New York tabloid headlines about Anthony Weiner (Dan Alexander,Townsquare Media NJ)
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That was more than a year after sexting revelations destroyed his congressional career.

At a press conference yesterday with his wife at his side, Weiner said he would continue his campaign for mayor. Huma Abedin says she believes in her husband and has forgiven him.

"I love him, I have forgiven him, I believe in him," and the sexting matter is "between us," she said, a message that could prove important to shaping voters' views as they digest his latest admission.

After the gossip website The Dirty posted X-rated text messages and a crotch shot that it said the former congressman exchanged with an unidentified woman, Weiner acknowledged sending such messages as recently as last summer, more than a year after he resigned from the House because of similar behavior with at least a half-dozen women. With Abedin smiling at his side, he said at a news conference that "this is entirely behind me," and both made it clear they were moving ahead with his campaign.

(L-R) Anthony Weiner and wife Huma Abedin
(L-R) Anthony Weiner and wife Huma Abedin (John Moore/Getty Images)
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"I want to bring my vision to the people of the city of New York. I hope they are willing to still continue to give me a second chance," a collected Weiner said. Then he went on to talk policy at a candidate forum on gay men's issues, where he was warmly received.

Weiner, 48, has been near the top of most polls since his late entry into the race in May. The latest disclosures could severely test voters' willingness to forgive him. The New York Times and Daily News and some of his mayoral rivals called on him to drop out of the race.

In an editorial posted online Tuesday, The New York Times said, "the serially evasive" Weiner "should take his marital troubles and personal compulsions out of the public eye, away from cameras, off the Web and out of the race for mayor of New York City."

In an editorial Wednesday, the Daily News said: "He is not fit to lead America's premier city. Lacking the dignity and discipline that New York deserves in a mayor, Weiner must recognize that his demons have no place in City Hall."

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)

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