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Anthony "Disgraced Congressmember" Weiner has filed initial paperwork with the City of New York, suggesting that he has already spent about $115,000 toward a bid for Mayor.

This isn't entirely a surprise. Last summer, rumors began to circulate that Weiner was planning a comeback. Nor is it a surprise that he'd aim for the city's top job. Before Mayor Michael Bloomberg finagled a third term in 2009, Weiner's name was mentioned among the possible top candidates for the job. The intervening years, of course, have not been kind to the one-time Democratic star. Or, rather, Twitter hasn't been.

So what did Weiner spend money on? According to the filing, five things: rent, taxes, phones, polling, and consulting.

It's the polling that's most interesting. The poll (or polls) were performed by California-based David Binder Research — the same firm to which Weiner paid $52,500 for consulting and "research." The polling cost a similar amount, $54,000.

If you're curious what 54 grand gets you in polling, the answer is: a lot. It would need to. There are two things Weiner needs to find out, and a lot of things he wants to find out. He needs to find out if he has any shot in Hell and, if so, how he stacks up against the opposition. He wants to find out how that breaks down by borough and demographic group, how various messages might work to persuade people he deserves a second change, possible language he could use to undermine the competition. He'd need to do reasonably big samples of voters in at least four of the boroughs — Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn. Two things contribute to the cost of polls: the number of people you call and the number of questions you ask them. Increasing both could build up a $50,000 tab without much trouble.