By Scott Conroy - June 6, 2013

NEW YORK -- For the first few minutes of Anthony Weiner's appearance Wednesday at the New Kings Democrats club, which was holding its endorsement meeting, it was easy to see why the former congressman has become a major factor in the race for mayor of the nation’s largest city.

Running in a Democratic field distinguished by a significant charisma deficit, Weiner was every bit the eloquent pugilist that won him national attention long before a series of lewd tweets turned his very name into a running joke.

As he delivered an abbreviated stump speech that included well-worn yet punchy lines about the “three legs of the middle-class stool” and “those struggling to make it,” Weiner offered himself to the progressives in the room as an antidote to the billionaire mayor, Mike Bloomberg, who has presided over City Hall for more than 11 years.

During the question and answer session, one moment in particular showcased Weiner’s ability to charm the small crowd of mostly 20- and 30-somethings, who had convened over pizza and imported beer in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg, just a half-block off of Bedford Avenue -- the Appian Way of American hipsterdom.

When a bearded young man (whose intonation suggested British origins) rose to ask the first question, the candidate seized the opportunity to crack wise.

“I love your Staten Island accent,” Weiner said with a wry smile, as laughter broke out in the dingy basement where guitars hung next to pool cues along the back wall.

But the light mood changed moments later when Chris Owens, a well-known local Democratic activist and former congressional candidate, posed the second question of the evening.

“Greetings,” Owens began, innocently enough. “I have a three-word question: ‘How dare you?’”

And with that, Owens launched into a full-throated reprimand of the candidate over his illicit tweets and subsequent coverup attempt, all of which led to his resignation from Congress two years ago.

As the questioner calmly continued his dressing-down of Weiner (saying he was “outraged and disgusted” by his behavior), the candidate leaned against a counter and listened.

His arms tightly folded, the would-be mayor occasionally fiddled with his shirtsleeves, an apparent attempt to break some of the tension in the room, where a desk fan did little to circulate the stale, warm air.

“I want to understand how you explain to us how you used a public facility to tweet offensive material to individuals, who may have included minors,” Owens said. “You then lied about it, and now you come back -- not even four, eight years later. You come back after two years, and you expect us to embrace you because you have good ideas? We don’t know what you’re going to do.”

When Owens finally finished his harangue, Weiner began his response with an unconvincing claim that he appreciated the question, adding that people have “the right to feel that way.”

But his contrition ended there.

“Your view might be influenced, in part, [because] I endorsed and supported Yvette Clarke over you when you ran for Congress,” Weiner went on, referencing Owens’ failed 2006 House campaign.

When his interrogator replied that Weiner’s protests were “political bullshit,” and many in the crowd piped up in Owens’ defense, the candidate remained undeterred, continuing to turn the tables on Owens.

“Listen, Chris, you have the right to grandstand, and I have a right to answer the question after you do, don’t I?” Weiner said. “All I can say is that I have explained -- and I’ll explain it to as many people who want to ask me about those things -- that it was a personal mistake that I made.”

Weiner’s third and final question of the night came from a member of the Democratic club, who asked how the public could trust public officials like him who are “going around apologizing all the time.”

Weiner responded with a query of his own, asked his cross-examiner whom he was supporting in the race.

When the man answered that he was backing New York’s public advocate, Bill de Blasio (whom the club later that night endorsed), Weiner emitted a sarcastic, “That’s a surprise.” He then wrapped up his closing argument with another cutting remark.

“If you don’t think I should even be standing here today, I certainly would respect that,” he said. “I mean, you’re supporting another candidate who’s not going to win.”

Weiner’s tumultuous appearance in Brooklyn highlighted the extent to which his candidacy remains the biggest wild card in a race that is likely to end with the election of a Democratic mayor for the first time since 1990.

With near universal name recognition and an almost $5 million war chest at his disposal, Weiner has been sitting in second place since before formally entering the race last month and has recently gained ground on the front-runner -- City Council Speaker Christine Quinn -- according to a Marist poll.

Many close observers of New York politics believe that while he may not win, Weiner made a shrewd choice in running now, rather than waiting another five years -- when he would no longer have access to time-limited public matching funds currently available under city campaign laws.

New York City Democratic strategist Dan Gerstein, who is not personally involved in the race, said that Weiner could use this campaign to let the tabloids expend their ammunition -- and he might even surprise some people in the process.

“Up until this point, the race has been very low wattage, very uninspiring, and just plain small,” Gerstein said. “No one’s presenting big ideas that rise to Bloombergian standards, like the smoking ban or congestion pricing, so there’s this opening for someone like Anthony with a big personality and ambitions. The reality is if he didn’t have the scandal albatross, he’d most likely be running away with it.”

During his first two weeks on the campaign trail, Weiner has spent much of his time stumping in Brooklyn and the other outer boroughs, making the case to his natural base of white, middle-income voters that the city has left them behind by catering to its wealthiest inhabitants, who have sent real estate prices soaring.

Weiner is hoping to make it into a runoff election against Quinn, which will be triggered if no candidate finishes above 40 percent in the September primary.

Thus far, the other Democratic candidates in the race have not attacked him head-on over the Twitter episode, but that is likely to change if Weiner’s poll numbers continue to rise.

Owens told RCP that he is glad Weiner entered the race, since he expected the former congressman’s presence to help his preferred candidate, New York Comptroller John Liu. Yet Owens added a cautionary note that he expected the scandal-tarnished former lawmaker to remain viable despite his flaws.

“He’s an arrogant son of a bitch and we saw a piece of that tonight, not so much in his response to me, but that’s who he is,” Owens said. “I think he has legs, which is what really troubles me.”

New York City Democrats who are less critical of Weiner agree that his outsized presence is a double-edged sword.

Weiner’s readily apparent intelligence and sardonic wit are endearing assets to hard-bitten New Yorkers, but his penchant for responding tartly to those who cross him -- a tendency on display Wednesday night -- remains a barrier to convincing voters that he is a changed man.

Whether he can find the middle ground between confidence and hubris remains an open question.

But at this still early stage in the race, many New Yorkers seem willing to give him a shot.

As the New Kings Democrats meeting wound down after 10 p.m., a bearded young club member took another sip of his Modelo beer and offered his assessment of Weiner’s role in the race.

“The whole lot of candidates is horrible,” said the man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he works for a city assemblyman who does not support Weiner. “But he has the best ideas of all of them.”