Todd Akin: McCaskill Fearful About Losing MO Senate Race

On Thursday, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), said his opponent Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill (D) was nervous about losing the senate race. As a result, she was not as “ladylike” when the two debated last week as she was in a 2006 debate against Republican Jim Talent.

“I think we have a very clear path to victory, and apparently Claire McCaskill thinks we do, too, because she was very aggressive at the debate, which was quite different than it was when she ran against Jim Talent,” Akin said, according to the Kansas City Star. “She had a confidence and was much more ladylike (in 2006), but in the debate on Friday she came out swinging, and I think that’s because she feels threatened.”

During their debate last week, McCaskill used the opportunity to try and tear down Akin by calling him an extremist “on the fringe.”

After Akin’s controversial comments rape, Republicans tried to force Akin out of the race, fearful his comments would damage the GOP brand. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Republican National Committee and outside groups said they would not fund his campaign.

But after the deadline passed for Akin to take his name off the ballot last week, some Republicans are thinking about a change of heart and supporting Akin. McCaskill only leads by roughly five points in the RCP average of polls. Republicans, if they are to take back the Senate, must win the Missouri Senate seat. 

In the weeks ahead, Akin may make the Republican version of an argument in right-leaning Missouri that Democrat Elizabeth Warren is making against Republican Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senate race — that he is an imperfect candidate Republicans need in order to take back control of the Senate. In liberal Massachusetts, Warren, who has come under fire for lying about her Native American heritage and allegedly having practiced law in Massachusetts without a license, is telling Massachusetts voters as imperfect and flawed as her candidacy is, she is needed in the Senate if Democrats hope to retain control of the Senate.