JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri: The US congressman under fire for making comments about “legitimate rape” and pregnancy said yesterday that Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney’s running mate personally pleaded with him to leave a crucial Senate race, but the advice went nowhere. Rep. Todd Akin insisted he’s in the race to stay, saying “this is not about my ego.”
Romney himself has called on his fellow Republican to abandon his Senate bid in the Midwestern state of Missouri amid the party’s concerns that Akin’s comments have threatened the party’s bid to gain control of Congress in November.
Akin told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, called him to personally plea that he step aside, but Akin said “it’s not right for party bosses to override” Missouri voters, who knew they weren’t getting a “perfect’ candidate.
Akin has repeatedly apologized for his comments in a television interview earlier this week that women’s bodies can prevent pregnancies in cases of “legitimate rape.” He had been asked in the KTVI interview whether his general opposition to abortion extends to women who have been raped.
“It seems to me, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” Akin said.
Despite the uproar that followed, Akin ignored a key deadline to drop out of the Senate race Tuesday and declared that his party’s leaders were overreacting by abandoning him.
He was once seen as a strong challenger to incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill in Missouri, a pivotal target for Republicans as they attempt win control of the Senate. Republicans already control the House of Representatives.
Akin’s bid now faces a lack of money from the national Republican Party, a lack of party support and no assurance that his apologies would be enough to heal a self-inflicted political wound. But he remained defiant.
He appealed Tuesday to Christian evangelicals, anti-abortion activists and anti-establishment Republicans, saying he remains the best messenger to highlight respect for life and liberty that he contends are crumbling under the big-government policies of President Barack Obama.
Some have rallied to his side. Akin’s campaign released an open letter Tuesday from Jack Willke, former president of the US National Right to Life Committee, stating he was “outraged at how quickly Republican leaders have deserted” Akin. Akin “remains a strong and courageous pro-life leader — and awkward wording in one sound bite doesn’t negate that,” Willke’s statement said.
If Akin were to leave, state law gives the Republican state committee two weeks to name a replacement. Akin can withdraw from the race as late as Sept. 25, but after Tuesday, he would need a court order to do so.
Hurricane could hit convention
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Isaac is posing a potential threat to next week’s Republican National Convention in Florida, which culminates in the nomination of Mitt Romney for president.
The US National Hurricane Center yesterday morning said Isaac was expected to strengthen and could become a hurricane by Thursday.
Convention organizers knew it was a possibility during the peak of hurricane season. About 70,000 delegates, party officials, journalists, protesters and others are expected to attend. It’s been 90 years since a major hurricane made a direct hit on Tampa, the site of the convention. Florida, historically the nation’s top target for tropical systems, has not been hit by a major hurricane since Wilma in 2005. National Hurricane Center computer models had predicted Isaac would become a hurricane over the next few days, meaning maximum winds must be at least 74 mph (120 kph). Some models had the storm striking Florida, including the Tampa Bay area, after moving across Cuba or the Bahamas as early as Sunday morning. Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at Weatherunderground.com, said long-range storm track predictions five days in advance are notoriously inaccurate.
