The stereotype of politicians being sleazy cheats and more than prone to sex-driven scandal is one grounded in both historical precedents and also, in contemporary incidents. From the Petticoat Affair to the Lewinsky Scandal, no politician is safe from the quintessential killer of political careers and aspirations. Wipe off that blue dress, grab your favorite escort or mistress, and be sure to watch that wide stance, for there are Weiners afoot. These are my top five most infamous sex scandals in modern American politics.

5. Eliot Spitzer, Escort Extraordinaire

On March 10, 2008, The New York Times reported that then-governor of New York Elliot Spitzer had utilized a top-of-the-line escort service run by Emperors Club VIP while in office. Spitzer reportedly had at least seven liaisons with several prostitutes from the agency over the course of six months, and paid in total roughly $15,000 for their collective services.

According to Newsday reports, in one instance Governor Spitzer wanted to transfer more than $10,000 to a front company in order to discretely the escort service. However, due to federal law requiring the reporting of any transfers of $10,000 or more, he broke up the transactions into smaller slices. When Spitzer tried to get his name taken off of the wires, the bank refused, saying that the money had already been wired out and that it would be improper to do so in any case.

Governor Spitzer and his wife addressing the media at the height of the scandal.

Spitzer's behavior and consistent use of prostitutes and other escort services eventually dominated state and national headlines, and he announced on March 12th, 2008 that he would resign his post as Governor effective noon on March 17 amid threats of his impeachment by state lawmakers.

4. David Petraeus, a Man and His Mistress

This particular incident regards the extramarital affair between retired four-star general and CIA Director David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell, which became public knowledge in the fall of 2012. Years earlier, Petraeus had chosen Broadwell to be his official biographer and thus the two spent a considerable amount of time together. She co-authored the biography All In: The Education of General David Petraeus when Petraeus was commander of the International Security Assistance Force. According to media reports, the case was officially initiated by FBI agent Frederick W. Humphries II after he received a complaint about cyber-stalking from Jill Kelley, a Florida socialite with connections to various military circles.

General David Petraeus and biographer/mistress Paula Broadwell

Humphries fielded the complaint to his superiors and then to Republican congressional leaders Dave Reichert and Eric Cantor, who reported the allegations to FBI director Robert Mueller. According to the report, the stalker, eventually found out to be none other than Paula Broadwell, "knew the comings and goings of a couple of generals." The subsequent investigation by the FBI uncovered the extramarital affair between Petraeus and Broadwell, and ultimately led to Petreaus' resignation as CIA Director on November 9th, 2012. FBI agents later discovered that General John R. Allen exchanged sexually explicit e-mails with Jill Kelley.

3. Anthony Weiner, Living Up To His Name

With a name like that, it's only fitting that former Representative Anthony Weiner got caught up in a scandal of his own. To date, Weiner has been caught in two notable scandals, the first suitably titled "Weinergate" in 2011, and another during the New York City mayoral race of 2013. Due to the undeniable hilarity and raw appeal of the first incident, we will focus solely on Weinergate.

Weinergate began on May 27th, 2011 when Congressman Weiner slid into the DM's of a 21-year-old woman from Seattle, Washington. The congressman forwarded the woman a link to a photo of his erect penis carefully concealed by tight-fit boxer briefs. The interaction was screenshotted, saved, and sent to conservative blogger Andrew Bleibart who posted the images on his website the following day. On June 1st, Weiner gave a series of interviews in which he denied sending the photo and suggested that someone, perhaps a political opponent, had hacked into his accounts and published the photo. Weiner also said he could not say "with certitude" that the photo was not of him. He suggested that the image might have been doctored or altered in some way, saying, "Maybe it did start being a photo of mine and now looks something different or maybe it is from another account."

Former U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner during his 2013 mayoral campaign.

After several days of denying reports that Congressman Weiner had posted the image himself, he admitted on June 6th to having sent a link to the photo, and also admitted to having sent other sexually explicit photos and messages to women both before and during his marriage. He denied, however, ever having met or having had a physical relationship with any of these women. On June 16th, 2011, Weiner announced his intention to resign from Congress, with his official resignation occurring on June 23rd, 2011.

2. Larry Craig's Wide Stance

In June 2007, Former United States Senator Larry Craig was caught attempting to solicit sex by tapping his foot and making other suggestive gestures to an undercover police officer in the neighboring stall in a men's restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The officer made the following remarks in his official report of the incident:

"At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. ... The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area. Craig then proceeded to swipe his left hand under the stall divider several times, with the palm of his hand facing upward."

Senator Larry Craig's mug shot.

The officer then showed Craig his police badge in the open area between the two stalls, and motioned for Craig to exit the restroom. After being charged with suspicion of lewd conduct, Senator Craig pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct. Craig went on to vehemently deny allegations that he was gay and claimed that he simply took a wide stance while on the privy, and was only trying to pick up a piece of paper on the floor in the stall. Despite efforts to sweep this incident under the rug, Craig announced his resignation from Congress in September 2007 and to not seek re-election in either immediately coming or future cycles.

1. The one, the only, the Lewinsky scandal

Perhaps the most well-known sex scandal of all-time, the Lewinsky scandal continues to dominate any and all evaluations of the Clinton presidency. While this particular incident did not have the luxury of ending in a major U.S. Supreme Court decision, see Clinton V. Jones, it earned its place in history in its own right. President Bill Clinton is notorious for being a tried and true ladies man with more than one questionable incident under his belt, but this town isn't big enough for more than one blue dress.

Monica Lewinsky's government identification photo, 1997.

In 1995, Monica Lewinsky, a graduate of Lewis & Clark College, was hired to work as an intern at the White House during Clinton's first term, and later worked as an employee of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. During her years at the White House, she began a personal and sexual relationship with President Clinton, the details of which she later confided to her close friend and Defense Department worker Linda Tripp, who secretly recorded their telephone conversations. Tripp also convinced Lewinsky to save any gifts the President had given her throughout the course of the relationship, and to not wash the now infamous, semen-stained blue dress.

Linda Tripp took the recorded phone conversations to Independent Counsel Ken Starr, originally appointed to investigate the Clinton's real-estate investments in the Whitewater scandal. Starr expanded his investigation of the Whitewater scandal to include these newly brought allegations of misconduct regarding Ms. Lewinsky, as well as a potential case of perjury in the President's deposition during the Paula Jones incident.

The story officially broke on January 21st, 1998 via The Washington Post. Rumors and allegations swirled for several days and, despite a denial to engage in the controversy from President Clinton, the demand for answers from the White House grew louder and louder. On January 26th, President Clinton, standing with First Lady Hillary, gave an address that will forever live in infamy:

President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton during the televised address.

"Now, I have to go back to work on my State of the Union speech. And I worked on it until pretty late last night. But I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people. Thank - you."

Months later, on July 28th, Lewinsky received transactional immunity in exchange for a grand jury testimony concerning her relationship with President Clinton. She also turned over the semen-stained blue dress to the Starr investigators, providing the DNA evidence that could prove the relationship beyond a shadow of a doubt, despite President Clinton's repeated denials.

President Clinton later admitted in a taped grand jury testimony on August 17th, 1998, that he had had an "improper physical relationship" with Lewinsky. That evening, he gave a nationally televised statement finally admitting his relationship with Lewinsky.