That sound you hear is Anthony Weiner's mayoral campaign being flushed down the toilet.

New York Times:

According to two people told of the decision, the campaign manager, Danny Kedem, no longer wished to oversee Mr. Weiner's bid for New York mayor after a week of bruising revelations about the candidate's latest online conduct. The two people, who have close ties to the campaign, did not want to be identified because they were disclosing confidential conversations.

Mr. Kedem, 31, informed Mr. Weiner of his decision in the last 24 hours, the two people said.

Mr. Kedem and a spokeswoman for Mr. Weiner's campaign declined to comment.

The move suggests that even as Mr. Weiner vows to press ahead with his candidacy, there are mounting doubts about its political viability within his own campaign.

Mr. Weiner's staff was jolted by his admission last week that his habit of sending raunchy online photographs and messages to women had persisted long after he resigned from Congress in 2011. The disclosures clashed with Mr. Weiner's claims that he had been rehabilitated after undergoing therapy and his suggestion that such behavior had long ago stopped.

Mr. Kedem had helped guide Mr. Weiner's candidacy, originally considered a long shot, to the top of the polls in the mayoral field before last week.

Not long ago, Mr. Kedem made clear he had no qualms about his new job. He sent an e-mail to dozens of his associates in late June seeking volunteers and financial contributions for Mr. Weiner's mayoral bid. "I am really proud to work for Anthony," he wrote.

How's that workin' out for ya now, Danny?

In truth, the real tragedy in this melodrama - if there is tragedy to be found in Mr. Weiner's unacceptable behavior -- it is the blow to campaign loyalists who have worked their hearts out and believed in the candidate. The pay just isn't worth the enormous amount of work many of these staffers perform. They become emotionally invested in the candidate so that when the revelations of impropriety emerge, the sense of betrayal is that much stronger.

Another couple of polls like the last one will probably force Weiner to face reality and withdraw.