Mr. Weiner, in a question submitted from the audience, also once more addressed his scandalous past, digging in his heels even further by lashing out at the media and his opponents, two entities he seemed to view as one in the same.

“I have to tell you, I have succeeded in unifying all of my opponents, Democratic and Republican, every major newspaper in this town, every TV station, they all agree: ‘Weiner shouldn’t even run,’” Mr. Weiner said, clenching his microphone and standing far closer to the audience than any of his rivals. “I’m not waiting to see what the New York Post or the Daily News has to say about me. For too long they’ve been running this town–they’re the people that brought you a third term.”

Mr. Weiner spoke to applause, reveling in his role as the outsider and anti-establishment contender. As one woman watching him murmured, “I like him, he’s a fighter,” [ Be sure to give him your email address, lady.] Mr. Weiner plowed ahead, even taking aim at the genial Mr. Thompson, whom the ex-congressman admitted he actually liked.

“I mean, Mr. Thompson is a decent good man. I like hanging out with him on the campaign trail,” he said, his voice softening slightly. “If you want someone who has gotten along with people, Bill Thompson is your man. If you want someone who has fought the good fights, who’s stood up for single-payer healthcare, who stood up against Mayor Giuliani when they were putting up paint that was burning down public housing projects, … who stood up against the entire world, right now, to stand before you and talk about the issues important to the middle class, I’m the person who showed up here to do it.”

” Councilman Antonio Pagan (D-Manhattan) accused Housing Authority Chairman Ruben Franco of putting tenants at risk. “I am urging Mayor Giuliani to fire the chairman, have him prosecuted for gross negligence,” he said. According to documents released yesterday by the Council: The Fire Department warned the Housing Authority on Aug. 8, 1990, that it suspected paint “labeled combustible” had fueled a stairwell fire three months earlier. The FDNY recommended that Housing stop using it. Chief of Fire Prevention Frank Cruthers ordered the “immediate cessation of the use of the present paint involved” in September 1994. A month later, in a memo about a stairwell fire at a Bronx project, Cruthers wrote: “The only source of fuel other than the original couch appears to be the paint.