FOR nine months, Anthony Weiner has been tweaking others via Twitter, poking fun at Sarah Palin, John A. Boehner and especially Michele Bachmann as he offers his 46,000-plus followers an unusually candid window into the thoughts, activities and edgy humor of a politically ambitious congressman.

    Weiner always knew that his sharp tongue, combined with his frequent use of Twitter, had a potential risk. He had not realized that Twitter trouble found him in an unexpected way.

    A sexually suggestive photograph of a man from the waist down, in nothing but underwear, was sent from Weiner’s Twitter-related photo-sharing account to a woman in Seattle. Weiner dismissed the picture, saying his account had been hacked and writing a Twitter message May 28: “Tivo shot. FB hacked. Is my blender gonna attack me next?” His office issued a statement the next day, saying, “Anthony’s accounts were obviously hacked.”

    The recipient of the photo, a college student who follows Weiner on Twitter, told The Daily News that someone had been harassing her online for weeks and that “I assumed that the tweet and the picture were their latest attempts at defaming the congressman and harassing his supporters.”

    The episode was quickly dubbed “Weinergate” for Weiner, who has embraced Twitter as an outlet for his feisty, in-your-face and occasionally off-color personality.

    Weiner is a loud, fast-talking, combative congressman who was the post-college roommate of the comedian Jon Stewart and has a similarly sharp sense of humor.

    He is notorious for being an intense and demanding boss, and his temperament has always been a potential liability. He has tried to use social media to turn his pugnacity into an asset — the first word used to describe him on the home page of his campaign Web site is “Fighter,” and his grass-roots group is “Democrats Who Fight.”

    Weiner’s Twitter tone is strikingly punchy and personal. He often posts several messages a day, on topics including Medicare, his coming television appearances and the National Hockey League.

    Weiner, a technophile, has clearly considered the role of Twitter in honing his public image. He says Twitter is now part of his “morning constitutional, with The New York Times, the tabloids, my e-mail,” and he takes postings from his followers seriously, often making adjustments and trying new things at their urging.

    Weiner publicly apologized Monday for sending flirtatious messages and images on Facebook and Twitter to six women over the past three years and then denying it for a week.

    And now, he has to fight for his political life.(SD-Agencies)