Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton and Norma Major: Political Wives who Forgive [SLIDESHOW]

Huma Abedin's decision to stand by her man, New York mayoral canidate Anthony Weiner, despite his admission that he sent explicit messages to another woman - again - has won her plaudits for loyalty and courage.

Abedin stood smiling alongside Weiner as he apologised before a crowd of journalists for sending X-rated text messages and a crotch shot to an unnamed woman under the nickname of Carlos Danger.

Abedin then took the mic to declare: "What I want to say is I love him, I have forgiven him, I believe in him, and as I have said from the beginning, we are moving forward."

Weiner was forced to resign from Congress in 2011 after he confessed sending lewd tweets and snaps to at least a half a dozen women. His wife was pregnant at the time.

The Democrat candidate admitted that the new exchange, exposed by gossip website The Dirty, took place last summer.

Abedin has played a pivotal role in Weiner's political comeback and featured in his electoral campaign in an effort to change public perceptions of him.

"Our marriage, like many others, has had its ups and its downs. It took a lot of work and a whole lot of therapy to get to a place where I could forgive Anthony," Abedin said.

"Anthony's made some horrible mistakes, both before he resigned from Congress and after. But I do very strongly believe that it's between us and our marriage."

"I am pleased and blessed she decided to give me a second chance," Weiner told reporters. "I hope [the people of New York] are willing to give me a second chance."

Abedin's act had echoes of other politicians' wives who stayed with their husbands despite infidelity.

The most famous is the woman who Abedin advises - former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who refused to abandon her philandering president husband Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky scandal in 1998.

But what about the others...?