Political endorsements and the promise of PAC dollars have come streaming back to Rep. Todd Akin, who’s challenging incumbent Senator Clair McCaskill for the U.S. Senate seat in Missouri.
Republican leaders stampeded away from Akin this summer after he said that so-called “legitimate rape” rarely caused pregnancy. They demanded he step aside. Now that the deadline for Akin doing that has passed, the tide has changed.
All of the sudden, this race has gone full tilt.
George Connor at Missouri State University says Senator Jim DeMint, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have all endorsed Akin recently, driven by one simple fact.
"They all recognize that Congressman Akin is the only game in town, he’s their only chance to take back this seat in the United States Senate," Connor says.
Connor expects money to follow. Meantime Senator McCaskill has sharpened her campaign against Akin, throwing his “legitimate Rape” comment at him in ads, instead of sitting back to let Akin’s fellow republicans lead the attack.
