Two disgraced US politicians who had hoped to salvage careers ruined by sex scandals saw their bids for election redemption flame out in New York.
Democrat Anthony Weiner had positioned himself as the ultimate comeback kid, deciding to run for mayor of New York City after quitting Congress in 2011 over a steamy cyber-sex scandal.
But after a campaign fraught with more lurid revelations, Weiner won only five per cent of votes in Tuesday's primary election.
Weiner's online proclivities first came to light when he accidentally tweeted a picture of himself in his underwear to his followers rather than the student he was then courting online.
He initially claimed his account had been hacked and that he had not sent the pictures, but later backtracked, and tearfully quit his post in the US House of Representatives.
For a brief moment, it seemed Weiner might have a shot at political redemption as he topped polls in mid-July.
His campaign was quickly torpedoed, however, when details emerged of further online cavorting.
The 49-year-old admitted sending lewd texts and photographs under the name "Carlos Danger" to a young woman after his resignation from Congress, as well as after the birth of his infant son.
The fresh revelations tested the limits of forgiveness of New Yorkers and Weiner never recovered in the polls. His campaign ended with an emotional speech on Tuesday night.
"We had the best ideas, sadly I was an imperfect messenger," said Weiner. His wife, Huma Abedin, a former aide to Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state, was nowhere to be seen.
"Sleazy come, sleazy go," said a New York Post headline, next to pictures of Weiner and fellow sex-shamed candidate Eliot Spitzer.
Spitzer, 54, was governor of New York from 2006 to 2007 when exposure of his liaisons with high-priced Washington call girls forced his resignation.
In July, without the support of his party and his marriage in ruins, he caused widespread surprise by announcing he would run to become New York's financial controller.
Spitzer was neck-and-neck with his rival Scott Stringer in the polls, but ended up losing with 47.8 per cent to his rival's 52.2 per cent.
