Missouri Republican Todd Akin is blowing right through today’s deadline to drop out of his U.S. Senate race against Claire McCaskill, despite the uproar that followed his stupefying comments about “legitimate rape.” In an e-mail today, Akin told supporters he’s “not going anywhere” despite requests from “party bosses and Washington insiders” that he back down. In sticking around, Akin is calling the bluff of the GOP establishment, which pulled funds from his campaign in a panic, but may just come crawling back if it means the difference between winning and losing the Senate majority. “I think the money’s going to be coming,” Akin said yesterday at a campaign event, along with special guest Newt Gingrich. Donations, he added, “can come from a lot of different sources.”
“This will come down to a very simple question: Do you want to keep Harry Reid as the majority leader?” Gingrich said, according to Businessweek, predicting “an avalanche of money” following today’s deadline. “If Todd and the people of Missouri prove it’s a close race, what’s the moral case for not backing the Republican nominee?” he continued. “My expectation would be that in the crunch, in October, Governor Romney is going to be for the entire ticket, and he’s going to be for Todd Akin.”
While a mid-August poll had him down nine points, a PPP poll at the end of last month had Akin trailing McCaskill by just one point.
