Obama’s campaign also believes its intense swing-state focus on abortion and contraception issues has been given new and possibly crippling heft with Rep. Todd Akin’s comments about “legitimate rape” as he seeks to unseat Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri.
The Romney campaign swiftly distanced itself from Akin, but Romney’s running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, cosponsored legislation with Akin that unsuccessfully sought to redefine “forcible rape” in the federal code.
Tough commercials on this are in the works as are radio ads in swing states battering Romney and Ryan for domestic spending cuts in Ryan’s GOP budget blueprints.