How Likely is an Anthony Weiner Comeback? City & State Does the Math

One of the elements fueling rumors of a comeback by Congressman Anthony Weiner is the notion that he'll essentially be forfeiting millions of dollars by taking a pass in 2013. The scenario is laid out in this [recent AP ](http://online.wsj.com/article/APb7821d5620054b2e916075e8211a57f6.html)report: Weiner - who had long been vocal about his mayoral aspirations and ran for the Democratic nomination in 2005 - has filed disclosure reports with the New York City Campaign Finance Board showing he has approximately $4.5 million in the bank for a potential City Hall bid. Public matching funds, which are awarded for individual contributions from city residents up to $175, would give Weiner nearly $1.5 million in extra cash. Those funds will expire, however, unless they're used in the upcoming election cycle - adding a sense of urgency to any plans the Queens Democrat might have for a return to politics. While that's all correct, a source close to Weiner argued to me recently that losing out on the $1.5 in matching funds actually wouldn't be all that big a deal - and that Weiner could easily hold off on a comeback until his reputation heals following his Twitter scandal. The current spending limit for the 2013 Democratic mayoral primary is $6.4 million - or about $2 million more than Weiner has in the bank. That means a run later than 2013, Weiner could simply opt out of the matching funds program and raise the extra couple million dollars privately, while still being competitive with the spending of his primary opponents for a 2017 run. Raising that amount wouldn't be extraordinarily difficult if Weiner is seen as viable for a 2017 run, my source argued. I ran this information by Campaign Finance Board spokesman Eric Friedman, who not only backed up my source's assertion about rolling over the money from 2013 to 2017, but said that Weiner could still get matching funds in 2017, on top of the $4.5 million in the bank: These are the possible moves for Weiner, according to Friedman: To read the full article at City & State [click here. ](http://www.cityandstateny.com/math-anthony-weiner-comeback/)