Weiner shrugs (shakes?) off demands that he drop out

Weiner shrugs off demands that he drop out

NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Weiner pressed ahead with his campaign for mayor Wednesday, shrugging off growing calls for him to drop out over a newly disclosed round of raunchy exchanges with a woman online.

As rivals and newspapers pressed the Democrat to bow out a day after he acknowledged he kept sexting even after it destroyed his congressional career two years ago, he prepared to testify at a public housing hearing and participate in a candidate forum in the evening.

"I have posited this whole campaign on a bet, and that is that, at the end of the day, citizens are more interested in the challenge they face in their lives than in anything that I have done, embarrassing, in my past," he told an encampment of reporters as he left his Manhattan home in the morning.

"This is not about me" but about voters, he said, and headed for his campaign office.

The latest scandal erupted Tuesday after the gossip website The Dirty posted X-rated messages and a crotch shot it said he exchanged with a woman last year while using the online alias "Carlos Danger."

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/weiner-faces-new-scandal-now-wife-side