Alec Baldwin Set for Battle of the Bulge with Rep. Anthony Weiner if he runs

By Jeffrey Jolson

Baldwin prays Weiner will be opponent

NEW YORK (Hollywood Today) 6/10/11 – Actor/activist Alec Baldwin who is near weighing in on the race to be New York City’s mayor has suggested Rep. Anthony Weiner not shrink from the Congress calls for him to resign.

After all, Weiner was set to be a front-runner in the mayoral run, after 12 years in Congress. There is no one else the savvy Baldwin would rather run against. Moving from 30 Rock to City Hall is just what he has always said he wanted to do. “I feel I’m two people: I have my interest in acting and I have a lot of other political interests I’d like to pursue.”

Baldwin’s 30 Rock contract is up in 2012, just enough time to mount a serious campaign. He’s had his share of scandals from set fights to his extremely heated custody battle with ex-wife Kim Bassinger – and the harsh voicemail he left his daughter.
Weiner could still be a serious candidate, considering New York City’s curious unconcern for scandals among politicians. A new poll from Weiner’s Brooklyn and Queens Constituency said 56 percent of voters there didn’t think he should resign. The other 44 percent told the pollsters to “shut the f—k up.”

New York chalks up a dozen or more major scandals a year, from state money on prostitutes to free football tickets for politicos (see partial list below). And that never stopped an election run for those involved.

“My thought on Weiner is that he is a very busy man,” Baldwin wrote to the Huffington Post. “Like most, although not all, politicians, he probably spends a great deal of time going to meetings, raising campaign funds and seizing upon every opportunity to remind people of how great he is as a public servant and a human being. It’s exhausting … Like other politicians, he needs something to take the edge off.”

Ultimately, “Weiner is a modern human being,” Baldwin said. “So he ensnared himself in things that modern humans do. When I first heard about his problems, I snickered and made jokes, too. Now, I’m sad for him, his family, his district and his colleagues.

Baldwin may not want to stop in Gotham forever, what with Washington not too far away. He once said “I wanted to be president of the United States. I really did. The older I get, the less preposterous the idea seems.”

Last year, three scandals involving New York politicians emerged in just one day (Mar.3), each with its own twist. Gov. David Paterson, who is holding onto his seat as serious allegations that he intervened in a domestic abuse case on behalf of an aide are investigated, faced a separate set of charges for allegedly accepting free World Series tickets.

Rep. Charles Rangel, who has been accused of a variety of ethics charges involving taxes, real estate and trips to the Caribbean, stepped down from his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee.

And another New York congressman, Eric Massa, announced that he will retire after only one term in office amid rumors that he sexually harassed a male staff member. Massa, who has suffered from cancer in the past, said his decision was based on health reasons.

“New York’s system is in a giant mess,” said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

In the last month, New Yorkers have had to wrap their heads around years’ worth of scandals.

Allegations against Paterson and his aide, David W. Johnson, have already led to the resignations of two senior state employees. In early February, the state Senate voted to kick out one of its members, Hiram Monserrate, who was arrested in 2008 for slashing his girlfriend in the face with a beer bottle.

Next week will mark the two-year anniversary of Eliot Spitzer’s resignation as governor amid revelations that he spent tens of thousands of dollars on prostitutes.