‘Twas but a few short weeks ago that the lazy, hazy summer afternoon news cycle was being dominated by yet another press conference of Anthony Weiner kinda’-sorta’ fessing up to still more newfound sexting allegations — an oh so charming and rather déjà vu moment from two summers ago, when Weiner resigned from Congress because of the same — but as the interest in his raunchy scandal has petered out, so has the accompanying press coverage.

He’s been saying all along that he’s willing to ride out the persecution and the incessant questions over his ‘personal life’ in order to talk about the real issues affecting New Yorkers, except that… nobody really seems to be interested in what he has to say on those. BuzzFeed reports that Weiner is trying to put on a brave face and play the role of the valiant underdog, but…

After weeks of topping the polls, Weiner is now trailing nearly all of his Democratic rivals — Speaker Christine Quinn, former Comptroller Bill Thompson, and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio — and he is battling what one New York Times reporter dubbed, “Weiner fatigue.”

Since admitting to a new scandal last month — that he continued sending explicit messages to women online for more than a year after resigning from Congress for the same behavior — voters have tired of Weiner, and so have reporters. …

“You might be surprised to hear this, but I actually like it better this way,” he said after talking with Bronx passersby for about an hour that evening. “You remember early on, I’d have Malaysia TV getting between me and voters.”

Fewer reporters, Weiner said, means more time with voters — and more of what he called the “nourishment” he gets from talking with them. “Every campaign ebbs and flows, and every campaign gets its moment. I didn’t have that — I had a tsunami,” he said. “I think I might be the only campaign in American history that’s aspired to ‘normal.’ Just get me to a place where I can talk about issues and give citizens an opportunity to come up and say hello.”

It’s journalists who have been getting in his way of just saying hello and having pleasant interactions with average citizens? Riiight.

The RCP average, for your ease of reference: