Anthony Weiner is off to the Hamptons, so now the question becomes: "How do you solve a problem like the 9th District?" An especially tricky question since the seat is looking increasingly like a lame-duck spot that will get redistricted out of existence. If you are Rudy Giuliani you apparently think the seat is a natural fit for the young bicycle-unfriendly Queens councilman Eric Ulrich. But there are a whole lot of other names being bandied about already, including former councilwoman Melida Katz, Assemblyman Rory Lancman, Councilman Mark S. Weprin and Bob Turner, who tried to unseat Weiner in the last election. Also? At least one person is calling for Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, to make a go for it.
The problem with the seat is that whoever gets it will most likely only serve through 2012 before the job gets redistricted out of existence. How long they would even serve is up in the air, as Governor Cuomo has to set a date for a special election first. That vote could come as soon as early August and as late as November—though September, to match with the primaries, seems likely.
“There is very little precedent that I can think of that someone is agreeing to be both a placeholder and not to seek that office if they get districted out,” Scott Levenson, a Democratic consultant, told the Times. Which doesn't mean that people won't go for it! Being a member of congress, even for a year, is still kind of a big deal.
However, many suspect that anyone making a go for it might want to be careful about what's between their legs. After a string of sex scandals from photo-happy pols with penises, there is a sense in many press reports that we are about to see a run of women successfully grabbing big seats. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, for instance, was already a front runner for the mayorship and now can run without fear of Weiner. Whoever goes for the seat also probably doesn't want to be as Twitter-happy as their predecessor, which might be an issue for 26-year-old first-term male lawmaker Ulrich, whom you may recall has some Twitter control issues of his own.
Still, one woman unlikely to make a go for Weiner's seat? His wife. As much as it might make sense to some, Huma Abedin seems very much to prefer to remain behind the scenes.
