Barack Obama May Lose New York Congressional Race

You can really see why Republicans are falling over themselves to squeeze themselves into the GOP primary clown car. Not only are the president's chances of pulling off a rare incumbent loss increasing with every new day of polling, but now he's starting to lose races in which he's not even a candidate.

Remember the congressional seat in that staunchly-Democratic district of New York City that used to be represented by Anthony Weiner's vainglorious penis? Well, in the special election for that seat, Guy Who Is Unfortunate Enough to Share a Party with Obama is within striking distance of losing it all to Dude Who Is Lucky Enough to Maybe Surf the Public's Hatred of the President into a Congressional Office…

The Siena College poll, conducted early this month, showed Mr. [David] Weprin with an advantage of 6 percentage points [over Republican Bob Turner], within the margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 points.

Suddenly Mr. Weprin's aides have ramped up fund-raising, enlisting big-name figures like Senator Joseph I. Lieberman to headline events. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has dispatched operatives to advise the candidate. And the campaign, aided by big city unions, is drawing up an extensive field operation to turn out the vote.

Few predict a Republican upset: registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by three to one in the Ninth Congressional District. But it is not uniformly liberal… and even those closest to Mr. Weprin grudgingly describe the contest as uncomfortably competitive.

Somewhere, in an underground laboratory, our nation's top scientists are working fervently to invent exciting new races for the President to lose. I hear they're this close to creating a quantum Schrödinger's congressional seat that Obama can both lose and lose really badly.

Photo by Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Tags: Anthony Weiner, Barack Obama, Bob Turner, David Weprin, House of Representatives, New York, Polls

Liveblogging Anthony Weiner's Resignation, 2pm

2:25 – Well, that's that. He just resigned. The gentleman will sit. The gentleman will sit, indeed.

2:23 – "Are you more than seven inches?" – someone in the crowd. I didn't think Larry Craig would show up.

2:22 – Weiner is really trying to flatter his constituents up there. I give him about 30 seconds before he shows them his schlong.

2:21 – Weiner is up!

2:20 – What do you think David Vitter is thinking about, while watching all this unfold? I'll bet it's something like, "Baby wants his diaper."

2:13 – MSNBC will have live video of the press conference once it starts.

2:07 – It's kinda nice to hear that Huma Abedin won't be doing the stoic supportive wife standing next to the apologetic politician thing. Should make more room on the stage for Andrew Breitbart.

2:02 - I hear Capitol Police are investigating a suspicious package outside Weiner's office. I guess that means Weiner's approaching the press room.

1:59 - So, apparently this press conference is only going to last for about 5 minutes. That's kind of a disappointment. I'd thought Weiner could go longer than that.

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Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Tags: Anthony Weiner, Anthony Weiner's Penis, House of Representatives, Liveblog, New York

Anthony Weiner Will Resign This Afternoon

I suppose we all knew it would come to this, but now it appears that it is in fact coming to this…

Representative Anthony D. Weiner has told House leaders and friends that he plans to resign his seat after coming under growing pressure from his Democratic colleagues to leave the House, said a top Democratic official and two people told of Mr. Weiner’s plans…

The top Democratic official said Mr. Weiner called Representative Nancy Pelosi of California and Representative Steve Israel of New York last night while they were at the White House picnic to inform them he had decided to resign on Thursday.

Mr. Weiner plans to resign in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, at 2 p.m. , at the spot where he announced his first campaign for City Council in 1992, according to two people told of his plans.

Let this be a lesson to you congresspeople out there: Although it may seem like tweeting pictures of your penis to random strangers out in the Twitterverse is a great idea that can't possibly have any negative blow-back, strange things like this can happen.

It's a crazy would we live in now. We're all learning to navigate it together.

Update: We'll be liveblogging Weiner's press conference at 2/1c.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Tags: Anthony Weiner, Anthony Weiner's Penis, House of Representatives, New York

From the Pork Barrel: Smile!

* Some people are wondering why John Edwards is smiling in these mug shots that were just released. I have a feeling he thinks he posing for a coin.

* You know, it's definitely kind of gross that Rep. Anthony Weiner asked that porn star to lie about their relationship. But, you know, I'll bet that wasn't the grossest thing he asked her to do.

* Good news everybody! Nancy Pelosi has successfully grown wealth in the U.S. by 62 percent. For herself at any rate.

* I used to think that Michele Bachmann was a crazy lady with no shot at winning the presidency. Now I think she's a crazy lady with no chance at winning the presidency, but that she's fun to read about.

Tags: Anthony Weiner, California, Crime, House of Representatives, John Edwards, Michele Bachmann, Minnesota, Money, Nancy Pelosi, New York, Pork Barrel, Porn, Primaries, Republicans

WINNER Caption Challenge: Anthony Weiner

Submitted by bloojax.

This week's challenge starring Andrew Breitbart here.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Tags: Anthony Weiner, Anthony Weiner's Penis, Caption Challenge, Games and Challenges, House of Representatives, New York