Todd Akin Staying In The Race, Likely To Get The Rapist Vote

Despite his recent ignorant remarks about a female bodies ability to abort a pregnancy in the case of “legitimate rape” Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin announced on Tuesday that he would remain in the political race.

Speaking on the Mike Huckabee radio show on Tuesday Akin said he would remain in the race because he feels that certain people are not being represented by major political parties. Not surprisingly he also took a moment to confirm his stance as an anti-abortion lawmaker.

The GOP have long considered the Missouri race a crucial content in regaining control of the Senate from the GOP. Akin is facing off against incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill who is sure to use the rape comment to her advantage, especially among her strong female voter bse.

Akin was seen as a serious contender against McCaskill but has drastically sunk in the polls since making his “legitimate rape” comment. Since making his comments it is believed the six-term legislator hast loss millions of dollars in campaign advertising money.

Akin is in full damage control, on Monday he appeared on two conservative talk shows even as members of his own party urged him to step down. Speaking to Huckabee the Republican said:

“The good people of Missouri nominated me, and I’m not a quitter.”

Akin then told Huckabee:

“Rape is never legitimate. It’s an evil act. It’s committed by violent predators. I used the wrong words the wrong way.”

Under election laws Akin has until 5 pm on Tuesday to withdrawal from the election cycle, marking exactly 11 weeks before Election day. After that time only a court order could remove the lawmakers name from the ballot.

While Akin needs to convince voters that he is the right man for the job his primary focus will be turning around members of his own party, he has already lost the support of Mitt Romney and Senate Republican Mitch McConnell. Without the support of his parties figureheads behind him there is a very good chance Todd Akin will lose to his incumbent competitor.

Also backing away from their support of Akin are Scott Brown and Ron Johnson, both men urged Todd Akin to resign.

In the meantime $5 million set aside for his campaign has been pulled by Sen. John Cornyn, head of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. That money will now be spent on other Republican campaigns.

During part of his campaign damage control Akin released the following apology video. In the video Akin proclaims:

“Fact is, rape can lead to pregnancy. The truth is rape has many victims. The mistake I made was in the words I said, not in the heart I hold. I ask for your forgiveness.”

Here’s the full apology video:

[iframe src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/EqBnu8EDbPc” width=”560? height=”315?]

Akin has become the newest whipping boy for the Democrats who have long called Republicans out of touch with women’s rights. Speaking on Monday President Obama quickly proclaimed “rape is rape” while falling short of tying Todd Akin’s remarks into the rest of the Republican party.

The senate hopeful is even receiving some backlash from anti-abortion groups who believe his comments serve to undermine their own efforts. While one anti-abortion group supported the comments the Christian Defense Coalition demanded that Todd Akin step down from the campaign.

In the meantime Todd Akin continues to go on the defensive and play the role of damage controller.

Everyone is abandoning Todd Akin but perhaps he can still earn the rapist vote, although I suspect that even they think his “legitimate rape” theory is complete rubbish.