I never cease to be amazed by the sheer denial of reality by some on this website. Olivia - Todd Akin lost by a huge 16 points - 55% to 39% (there was a 3rd party candidate) and in raw numbers Akin lost by over 400,000 votes. It was a landslide for Claire and you write that "In many respects Akin's loss was very narrow". What kind of weird universe are you on?
Your denial of reality is not good. There is a lot of work Repubs need to do to win and to start they need to communicate better.
Sorry, but I seem to recall that the margin was much lower.
If not for the continuous 24 hours a day, seven days a week of the media, local and national ravaging Todd Akin , Todd would have won the election.