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Cleveland City Councilman Zack Reed easily won his primary on Tuesday despite being convicted of his third DUI last month.

(Marvin Fong, Plain Dealer file photo)

It appears the voters in Cleveland City Council's Ward 2 are a magnanimous group.

Last month, Ward 2 Councilman Zack Reed was convicted of his third drunken-driving offense. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail on Sept. 5 and will begin serving his sentence later this month.

Reed, 52, has represented the southeast side of Cleveland since 2000. And despite his three DUIs, that's unlikely to change.

On Tuesday, Reed cruised to an easy win in a primary election, receiving 904 votes. His closest challenger, Marcus Henley, received 85 votes. Reed told Cleveland.com reporter Leila Atassi that his arrest on March 5 was the low point of his career, but he said voters told him they would not let his drinking problem eclipse their perception of him as a hard-working councilman:

Reed isn't the only city councilman to overcome past troubles. Councilman Jeffrey Johnson, who was found guilty of extortion in 1998 and sentenced to 15 months in federal prison, won the primary for Ward 10, netting 808 votes to rival Councilman Eugene Miller's 574. Johnson's victory comes after a controversial redistricting process earlier this year. Many speculated City Council President Martin J. Sweeney had drawn ward boundaries to Miller's liking.

For Reed and Johnson, the voters were forgiving. And when it comes to scandals, politicians often find voters have a short memory. Here are some famous national examples:

Mark Sanford admitted to an affair while governor of South Carolina, then was elected to Congress earlier this year.

• In June 2009, South Carolina Republican Gov. Mark Sanford mysteriously disappeared for six days, then admitted to an extramarital affair after first offering other excuses. Although he was nearly impeached, Sanford finished his term in January 2011. Just over two years later, Sanford won a seat in the U.S. Congress in a special election.

• In 2009, U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, admitted to using the services of prostitutes in the "D.C. Madam" scandal. Vitter apologized to voters and was re-elected in November 2010.

• In 1994, Democrat Marion Barry was re-elected as mayor of Washington, D.C., after being arrested on cocaine charges in 1990. Barry served a six-month jail term for the cocaine charges. He currently is a member of Council of the District of Columbia.

• in 1989, it was revealed that U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., had an affair with a male prostitute, and that he allowed the prostitute to live and work from his home. It did not hinder Frank's career, who won several re-elections before deciding not to seek re-election in 2012.

• The late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., was involved in the infamous Chappaquiddick incident in July 1969. A woman died and Kennedy left the scene of the crime. Kennedy kept getting re-elected to the Senate and served for almost 47 years before his death in 2009. However, he was never able to seriously challenge for the presidency.

Not all politicians are able to successfully rebound. Former Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner and former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who both resigned after sex-related scandals but were attempting comebacks, were rejected by voters Tuesday in New York. John Edwards' 2008 presidential aspirations imploded after it was revealed he was having an affair while his wife battled cancer. Idaho Sen. Larry Craig saw his career basically end after he was arrested in 2007 for lewd conduct in a men's bathroom. Nevada Sen. John Ensign was undone by an affair and ethics scandal and forced to resign in 2011.

While it didn't work out for Switzer and Weiner on Tuesday, history professor Timothy Kneeland told WXXINews.org that voters' attitudes about scandals have changed over the years:

The campaigns of Weiner and Spitzer also got blogger Nicholas Wapshott speculating about voters:

One thing that apparently worked in Zack Reed's favor on Tuesday: A poll released in July shows politicians caught for DUI do not see their support waver much. Voters also are more tolerant of politicians who have affairs. However, politicians who use illegal drugs or visit prostitutes do not fare well.

So perhaps Robert Smither was onto something when he wrote this about Spitzer and Weiner in July: