by Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg
In 2013, Anthony Weiner was the odds-on favourite in the bid to become mayor of New York. Two years prior, however, a sexting scandal led him to resign from the House of Representatives. Weiner’s colourful, large-scale political comeback campaign ran under the motto „Everybody needs a second chance!“. He was fervently supported by his wife, Huma Abedin, herself a close friend of Hillary Clinton. When a new indecent image of the ‘Weiner sausage’ surfaced on the net one day, an unparalleled political debacle ensued – accompanied by a merciless media onslaught. Not only Weiner himself, but also his family and campaign team became easy prey for the media’s obsession with sensationalism.