Free Republic

Claire McCaskill is doing cartwheels.

The other day I received an e-mail from the suddenly famous Sandra Fluke under the simple heading "Legitimate rape." Presuming that the message was not exactly personal, I deleted it, but I could have guessed its tone and tenor. Indeed, I had heard more about Rep. Todd Akin's unfortunate choice of words on the subject of rape in the last few days than I had heard about the actual commission of rape in the last decade, including rapes and other sexual abuses by members of a certain political party. Mimi Alford's recent book, Once Upon An Affair, details a few...

ST CHARLES, Missouri (Reuters) - Missouri conservatives say they are rallying around U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin despite his controversial comments about rape because they are outraged that "establishment" Republican Party leaders tried to railroad him out of the race. A backlash has set in here in Akin's suburban St. Louis congressional district, where supporters said the national party had no right to attempt to force out a duly-elected candidate. Backers described Akin as the "real deal," a politician fiercely committed to their social causes such as opposition to abortion, and to the Tea Party drive to downsize government.

ST. ROBERT, Mo.—Claire McCaskill began a sparsely attended campaign event here Thursday with this quip: "I don't know if you noticed, but my campaign has been really boring lately." The ironic line was one of the few references the Democratic senator made to the political firestorm that erupted after her opponent, U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, used the term "legitimate rape" during a TV interview Sunday. Rather than beat Mr. Akin over the head, Ms. McCaskill appears to have decided to let the wrecking ball he set in motion swing all by itself. And unlike the Republican establishment, which has called...

Could Missouri Republican Ann Wagner be the answer that GOP'ers are looking for? Although the first deadline passed for embattled Congressman Todd Akin, Missouri Republican, to withdraw from his U.S. Senate race against Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, without a court order and a fine, grassroots and Washington D.C. establishment conservatives I have spoken to are beginning to rally behind Ann Wagner. She is currently running for Mr. Akin's 2nd Congressional district seat and is said to have supporters asking her to run against McCaskill should Akin leave the Missouri Senate race before the next September deadline passes. According...

Rasmussen poll made me laugh out loud. If anyone believes that, I just turned 29. Sneaky stuff. bit.ly/SscVZf— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) August 23, 2012Oh, good grief. Sneaky, heal thyself. Senator McCaskill’s attempt at reverse psychology is incredibly lame; is she trying for yet another terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day? What Rasmussen poll is the Democrat Missouri senator trying, and failing, to discredit? Oh, only the one that has her now up by ten over Rep. Akin. In her desperate attempt to bitterly cling to her senate seat, she is trying a pitiful Jedi Mind Trick: “You’re fine, Akin....

What a difference one TV interview can make. Embattled Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill has now jumped to a 10-point lead over her Republican challenger, Congressman Todd Akin, in Missouri’s U.S. Senate race. Most Missouri Republicans want Akin to quit the race while most Missouri Democrats want him to stay. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the Show Me State finds McCaskill earning 48% support to Akin’s 38%. Nine percent (9%) like some other candidate in the race, and five percent (5%) are undecided.

Exclusive: Janet Porter joins pro-life leaders as they stand with Rep. Todd Akin Want to know why the Republican Party is in such trouble? I believe it comes down to one word: courage. When Democrats misspeak, we make them vice president. When Republicans misspeak, Republicans are the first in line to throw them under the bus. When Rep. Todd Akin stood for protecting all innocent human life in a recent interview, he used a word with more than one meaning. He used the word “legitimate” before the word “rape” to mean “real,” “forcible,” a tragic event that “really took place.”...

Todd Akin would do his party and his country a service by stepping aside. The rest of the campaign will be dominated by this side issue, possibly denying Republicans a key Senate seat. To use the words “legitimate” and “rape” in the same phrase betrays a serious lack of judgment. Only about 1 percent of women undergoing abortions report that they were raped, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute. One percent is not zero. That much having been said, I must offer a mild dissent to the widespread view expressed by both Republicans and Democrats that what Akin said was...

WASHINGTON – So, let me get this straight. A worthy Republican challenger to Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri made one dumb comment to an interviewer and the entire Republican establishment is pulling the rug out from under him, essentially conceding the race to a very vulnerable Democrat. Here’s the entirety of Rep. Todd Akin’s comment defending his pro-life position that has caused such a massive furor: “From what I understand from doctors, that’s (conception as a result of rape) really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But...

Rasmussen will be releasing a poll this morning showing Akin costing us dearly in Missouri: McCaskill 48% Akin 38%. Time to pack it up and stop screwing us, big guy.

HITLER RANTS ABOUT TODD AKIN AND THE GOP

Live on Greta. "We cannot quash this opportunity in Missouri!" She's more fired up than I've seen her in awhile, looks like she's ready to get up and start throwing stuff around the studio.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) would prefer for Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) to remain her reelection opponent. "Elections are sacred, there was an election, so I think the voters of Missouri should be respected [and] not have some big wig fancy people from Washington come in here and threaten him that he's got to drop out," McCaskill said, according to St. Louis television station KTVS. Akin was the Republican primary contender that McCaskill and the Democrats were hoping for, prior to his controversial statements on rape that have prompted GOP calls for him to quit. That his remarks might have injured...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A spokesman for Senate Republicans' campaign arm says Rep. Todd Akin is putting issues he cares about at risk by staying in the Missouri Senate race and says Akin's "misguided" campaign will get no support from the group. Akin has come under intense pressure to exit the race after saying women could prevent pregnancy in cases of "legitimate rape." But he reiterated plans Tuesday to continue his bid.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Monday, where she declined to weigh in on whether GOP Missouri Senate nominee Todd Akin should drop out in the wake of his controversial comments that “legitimate” rape can’t lead to pregnancy. “It’s not my place to decide,” said McCaskill. “I really think that for the national party to try to come in here and dictate to the Republican primary voters that they’re going to invalidate their decision, that would be pretty radical. I think there could be a backlash for the Republicans if they did that.”

This morning, Public Policy Polling races to tell us that “Missouri voters strongly disagree with the comments Todd Akin made about abortion over the weekend, but it hasn’t moved the numbers a whole lot in the Senate race. Akin leads Claire McCaskill by a single point, 44-43. That’s basically identical to our last poll of the contest in late May, which found Akin ahead by a 45-44 spread.” Boy, that’s surprising. Why, that might be the sort of thing that would persuade Akin he can still win this and that he should stay in the race. Let’s take a look...

August 20, 2012 AKIN WILL WITHDRAW: WHAT HAPPENS NOW? Mike Flynn ........ At some point before 5pm CDT tomorrow, Akin will file papers to formally withdraw his name from the ballot. I realize today Akin was defiant and said he wasn't a "quitter." His supporters claim he will stay in the race because he views his candidacy as "providential", but this is just the bluster before the end. Everyone is entitled to 24 hours to try to right their ship, but Akin did nothing today to cauterize the wound. When Reince Priebus, Ann Coulter, NRSC and Tea Party Express are...

WASHINGTON — Fearing that a seat crucial to winning a Senate majority could slip away, the national Republican establishment on Monday unleashed a furious campaign to drive Representative Todd Akin, the party’s newly selected nominee, out of the race against Missouri’s Democratic senator.Amid an uproar over provocative comments on rape and abortion that Mr. Akin made in an interview broadcast on Sunday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee declared that it would withdraw financial and organizational support for Mr. Akin, including $5 million in advertising already reserved for the fall. ...Crossroads GPS, a Republican advocacy group that had already spent more...

U.S. Rep. Todd Akin stood firm against mounting GOP pressure for him to quit Missouri's Senate race on Monday afternoon, tweeting: "I am in this race to win." A telephone poll conducted on Monday by North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling showed Akin still leading incumbent U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill by one-point, 44 to 43 percent, despite the growing controversy over his remarks that women can somehow avoid pregnancy after forced sex. PPP said it would release more details on the poll later this evening. The Democrat-affiliated firm said it shows little change from its previous poll before the controversy, which...