[hanamizu]

For those that don’t know, McCaskill ran ads during the primary season for Todd Akin. The first time I saw one, I thought it was a mistake. Akin self-destructed when a leftist reporter asked him out about abortion in the case of rape.

She obviously wanted to run against Akin and spent her own money to ensure he was her opponent. I can’t tell you how happy I was when Josh Hawley sent her to being an MSNBC regular.

[Political Junkie Too]

For the record, I don't blame Akin for his loss. I think his gaffe was fixable, but Mitch McConnell didn't want Akin in his Senate.

McConnell has a history of letting candidates hang out to dry against the LAAP-dog media's onslaughts if he has a personal grudge against them. He'd rather lose the seat to Democrats than gain an undesirable Republican.

For consideration:

• Christine O'Donnell of Delaware defeated McConnell-favorite Mike Castle in 2010 primary for the seat vacated by Joe Biden.

  O'Donnell was, at the very least, more qualified than AOC is today. O'Donnell was a youth leader for the Bush–Quayle campaign in 1992, worked for two years in the communications office of the Republican National Committee (RNC) in Washington D.C., and became involved in Christian values advocacy groups before she began running for Congress.

  We ended up with Democrat Chris Coons, who later got Jeff Flake to turn against Brett Kavanaugh in his SCOTUS confirmation hearing.

• Todd Akin of Missouri used the phrase "legitimate rape" in his 2012 campaign.

  Akin was an 11-year Missouri state House Representative and 12-year Missouri Congressman, but McConnell ran away from him instead of supporting him through the media frenzy.

• Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock made a similar gaffe in 2014 ("God intended it [rape] to happen").

  Mourdock was the seven-year state Treasurer for Indiana, beating Pete Buttigieg in his 2010 reelection. McConnell abandoned Mourdock because he had the audacity to defeat McConnell's pal Dick Lugar in the Senate primary.

  We ended up with Democrat Joe Donnelly, who was defeated by Mike Braun four years later. Donnelly is now the ambassador to The Vatican (replacing Callista Gingrich).

• Chris McDaniel of Mississippi ran in the 2014 election against senile Thad Cochran.

  McDaniel was a six-year Mississippi state Senator. McConnell's Super PAC ran racist ads against McDaniel and solicited illegal Democrat run-off votes to keep Cochran in office. McDaniel again ran in the 2018 special election for the same seat after Cochran stepped down (and died 11 months later) and lost in an open primary with two Republicans and two Democrats.

• Three-time Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore ran in 2017 for the Senate in the special election to replace Jeff Sessions (who became Attorney General). McConnell refused to support Moore (and Mo Brooks) when the Democrats used a forged yearbook to smear Moore with a 30-year-old charge of sexual assault on a minor. Democrats used that playbook the following year against SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh (IMHO because of McConnell's weakness with Moore).

  Democrat Doug Jones won the seat, but lost to Tommy Tuberville in the next election.

• McConnell didn't fund Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters in 2022 because Masters aligned himself with Donald Trump.

  Democrat Mark Kelly won the election.

• Gen. Don Bolduc won the New Hampshire Republican primary in 2022, and was endorsed by Gen. Mike Flynn and former New Hampshire Bob Smith.

  McConnell supported New Hampshire Senate President Chuck Morse, and didn't support Bolduc in the general election because of his MAGA positions.

  Bolduc lost to Democrat incumbent Maggie Hassan.

• In 2022, the Alaska Republican Party endorsed Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration Kelly Tshibaka for the Senate instead of incumbent Lisa Murkowski.

  Tshibaka was also endorsed by Donald Trump. McConnell's Super PAC spent $5.5 million in attack ads against Tshibaka, to the point where the Alaska Republican Party censured McConnell for contradicting the state party's endorsement.

  Murkowski, arguably the weakest Republican Senator, won the election.

Many of these races were winnable if McConnell had put the full backing of the Senate Republican caucus behind them, but he didn't because the candidates would not be McConnell sycophants. Look at all the damage that was done because McConnell refused to fight for these seats and settled for a razor-thin minority in the Senate.

-PJ