Posted on 09/21/2012 2:10:33 AM PDT by Evil Slayer
In about 28 hours, the Republican Party will be, for all intents and purposes, stuck with Todd Akin.
The Missouri Senate candidate has shown no signs of bowing to pressure from the national party to get out of the race after his controversial comment about “legitimate rape” turned the race on its head.
And though the party initially held out hope that Akin would change his mind at some point over the past month, it now appears that ship has sailed.
The technical deadline for being able to replace Akin on the ballot, if he dropped out, is Tuesday. But because military ballots must be sent by Saturday, the effective drop-dead date is close-of-business Friday. After that point, Akin’s name would still appear on military and overseas ballots and a replacement nominee would not.
In addition, Akin would need to get a judge’s permission to withdraw (which could pose problems on such short notice), and he would be responsible for the cost of re-printing any ballots that have already been printed — a cost that might be significant.
So really at this point, there’s no reason to believe anything will change, and Republicans, after using as much leverage as they could muster, have begun accepting their fate.
“God has spoken: Todd is running,” said one Missouri Republican strategist, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “Our loins are girded.”
Shortly after Akin’s comment blew up, calls for him to exit the race began to snowball. Republicans urged him — both publicly and privately — to step aside, they pledged to not spend any money on his behalf, and they declared the seat lost if he stayed in the race.
Five current and former former Missouri Republican senators even joined forces in asking Akin to back out.
But aside from some isolated initial
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Awesome! Newt has his head screwed on properly and clearly understands what is at stake.
Well... I’m not holding my breath waiting for the RiNoC to re-release their funding for Todd Akin. So, I’ve taken the initiative and pumped some cash directly into his campaign.
Cheers
“I think Todd Akin was the choice of the people in Missouri and Todd Akin has publicly apologized,” Gingrich recently told ABC News. “I just think people ought to be a little cautious about saying the voters of Missouri don’t count.”
Mike Huckabee has also defended Akin. But a number of Republican supporters have withheld funds for his campaign. As a result, Akin is being outspent 10 to 1. While Akins has had relatively few ads on television, McCaskill’s campaign is supposedly spending $500,000 per week on broadcast and cable ads.
That is good news. It's time to start countering Clairebelle's leftwaffe who have dominated the airwave's for the last month bombarding the populace with her propaganda leftlets. The way she has been talking about her moderation in the Senate one would think that she was the GOP candidate.
God bless YOU! the knee jerk reaction by the rino’s is mind boggling. Why the republicans destroy their own is beyond me..so much for the Reagan Rule.
Let’s go ...Lt. Todd Akin, combat engineer, US Army..man of courage. Time to expose Claire for the leftwinger she is..we need this win.
A $50,000 fundraiser is a drop in the bucket to what Akin needs. Can't he do better than that given who is appearing with him?
Meanwhile, he’s an article on the GOPe reaching its end, from an unexpected source—Scott Rassmussen:
That is a typical fundraiser. When we had them in Virginia at high dollar plates it was hard to draw a huge crowd and have to consider the circumstances
With Romney far ahead of Obama in Missouri I can’t believe the voters there would vote for Romney and then turn around and vote for McCaskill..it ain’t gonna happen.
“A $50,000 fundraiser is a drop in the bucket to what Akin needs”
This is Akin’s real problem, not so much because of what he said, but he has no money and if the GOP doesn’t reverse itself on funding, then he has little chance.
McCaskill hasn’t even started to attack him yet. 12 million vs 2 million. That is the issue.
Up until now, the majority of the pushback against the GOP leadership has come from Christian conservatives who believe — correctly in my opinion — that the real reason for the attack on Akin is fear that the official Republican position against abortion even in cases of rape is a losing position with voters.
I have been saying for a month now that Akin’s comment was really stupid, but the attack on Akin is all out of proportion to the original offense.
Until Newt Gingrich stepped in, it looked like the Missouri senate race was going to turn into a situation where conservative Christians were left on their own, and basically were going to have to raise money on our own, on a national basis, to replace normal national Republican funding.
Gingrich getting involved is a game changer. Having Mike Huckabee and James Dobson support Akin was important, but not surprising. Gingrich's support sends an entirely different and very important message.
I have defended and provided evidence for Gingrich's personal faith in the past, and also argued that a Christian conservative can legitimately vote for Gingrich because the Romans 13 standards for civil office and the example of King David show that we should not strictly apply the personal family life standards of I Timothy and Titus, which are qualifications for pastors, elders and deacons, to those serving in civil office. Gingrich's personal faith is not the issue. Regardless of his personal faith, during the primary election, he got identified as the main antagonist of Christian conservatives in the ultimately unsuccessful attempt to stop Mitt Romney. If Gingrich has coattails, and I strongly believe that he does, his involvement will bring an entirely different group of people who are mad at the Republican leadership into the fight for Akin.
It is no secret that I did not support Gingrich's campaign until Rick Santorum dropped out, but then said Gingrich was our last option to stop Romney. I am very glad to see that Gingrich is willing to support Todd Akin — and his support could be a very important signal turning on financial spigots that until now have been unavailable to Akin.
This is a very good thing. Christian conservatives and more secular conservatives have much more in common with each other than either of us have with a fair number of people in the Republican establishment, and all of us have more in common with each other than we do with the Democrats.
darrellmaurina, read this on Akin.org. “One thing liberals always try to do is drive a wedge between “social” and “fiscal” conservatives. Well, when you look at the numbers, social conservatives are some of the most fiscally conservative! Check out this chart showing Right to Life ratings next to fiscally conservative National Taxpayer Union (NTU) ratings and LIKE if you believe fiscal issues ARE social issues and vice versa! Todd Akin”
Chart is on his site.
Not with someone as high-profile as Newt Gingrich. There are just over 6 weeks left. If Akin can't attract better contributions than this then he's lost the money battle and can't get his message out.
Well, I do hope Newton can help, but MO people don’t like to vote for losing candidates. I admire Akin for sticking with his campaign after the grand poo-bahs told him to exit the race.
Anyone should be able to stand up to John Cornyn, who is so mealy-mouthed, but in TX no one will.
Yes, it is typical considering the circumstances. This was a last minute fundraiser. The people in Missouri know who Akin is and know his record. The enemy has been the damn rino’s from the establishment.
Are you in MO? why do I get the feeling you don’t care for Newt or Akin?
Yes, but the person you spoke with had nothing to do with de-funding Todd Akin. He’s probably an $8 per hour employee who makes no policy. He may not even know who Todd Akin is. I wish another Cruz would step forward and challenge Cornyn in the 2014 primary.
Newt needed to get the hell out of the way. Lead, follow or leave. He did none of the above - and the result was Romney.
It’s nice to see Newt come out to help Akin - but let’s be honest here, would we not be better off without Romney at the top of the ticket?
In 1968, MO voters went for Nixon and then McGovern emocrat Thomas F. Eagleton for the Senate. Eagleton beat one of the best Republicans MO ever had — Rep. Thomas Curtis, who may have well been from much of the Todd Akin district, since changed boundaries probably.
And they gave GWB the nod in 2000 but the dead Carnahan the Senate seat.
Is Santorum also backing Akin? I thought I read he is.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.