According to Politico, Republican pressure on Todd Akin to withdraw will continue to intensify:

Rob Jesmer, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, underscored that effort in a private email to Senate chiefs of staff earlier this week, urging them to “keep up the pressure over the next several weeks.” One method, he suggested, was if senators publicly pressure Akin to step aside or directly lobby Akin and his son Perry Akin, who is his campaign manager.

One way to do this is for members to call or email Todd directly and explain to him that every movement is bigger than one person, and that for the good of all that he believes and has fought for, it is important that he step aside,” Jesmer wrote in the email obtained by POLITICO

But there’s more:

… Persistent chatter among Missouri political operatives is the possibility that Akin cuts a deal with Ann Wagner – who is running for the House seat he is vacating. The idea: allow Akin to continue serving in Congress so he can keep his seat and give Wagner a chance to take on McCaskill. Wagner didn’t rule out the possibility of a Senate run in a Thursday statement that criticized Akin’s comments.

The Politico article also floats a few other names of potential replacements, notably, for the first time I’ve seen it, that of Jo Ann Emerson, along with (ho-hum) John Brunner and Sarah Steelman. But it’s really tthe idea of switching races with Wagner that raises such a nauseating stench. First they tell us that Akin’s so befouled himself that the GOP presidential candidate himself has to implore him (Akin) to step down. Just about every GOP pol in the country has expressed the same, apparently requisite, horror and outrage. But when all’s said and done, they’re still willing to let ol’ Todd run for the House of Representatives?  

It’s nasty, but, from the point of view of pragmatic politics, I suppose it’s understandable.  Akin winning or loosing a race for a seat in what will probably remain a GOP-dominated House, no matter what, won’t hurt the party’s ambitions nearly as much as letting him stall the GOP drive to take back the Senate. So, if we can believe Politico, Official GOPdom may be willing to cut their losses and make peace with the obdurate Akin. The only people who would lose should this deal come to pass would a few odd souls who care about good government more than they care about the election prospects of the Republican party.

It took Todd Akin’s infelicitous choice of words and his apalling biological ignorance to shine a great big flood-light on Republican anti-abortion zealotry. Yesterday, The Huffington Post pointed out that there are numerous congressional Republicans who share Akin’s anti-abortion fanaticism:

Each election cycle, the political action committee Republican National Coalition for Life submits questionnaires to GOP candidates about their positions on choice issues and then endorses candidates who advocate a strict no-abortion platform. Selected candidates must be “unconditionally pro-life” and “recognize the inherent right to life of every innocent human being, from conception until natural death, without discrimination.”

Prominent among the 40 congressional candidates that RNC For Life has endorsed this year is Missouri’s Vicky Hartzler (R-4). I suspect that there would be more names here, but the organization doesn’t necessarily endorse in every race – nor are their endorsements for 2012 necessarily yet complete.

In 2010 the Missourians earned the RNC For Life’s imprimatur were: Roy Blunt, Todd Akin, Ed Martin, Vicky Hartzler, Jacob Turk, and Blaine Luetkemeyer. Most of these folks are still around, some safely in office, some up for reelection, and others running yet again for office. Jacob Turk, after failing to take Emanuel Cleaver’s 5th district seat in 2010 is trying again. Mr. Ed Martin, the perennial candidate, is, of course, running for something or the other – I believe that he eventually chose to try for Attorney General, just the place to put a radical anti-abortion zealot.

FiredUp! Missouri also tells us that the usually fairly circumspect (or at least quiet) Sam Graves has indicated his support for Brother Todd:

“It comes down to a decision between a rubber stamp for Obama and an independent thinker,” Graves said. “If he stays in the race, I’ll vote for him.”

Independent thinker, indeed! I guess you could think of many of the characters in Jackass films as “independent” thinkers – but would you really vote for any of them to represent you in Congress? Especially in preference to a solid, centrist Democrat who actually voted against Administration policies as often as she voted for them? (Not that that trait has endeared her to folks like me – but I’m tired of hearing idiots try to claim that poor, moderate-to-a-fault Claire McCaskill is some type of screaming liberal. We disowned her years ago. Her opponents ought to at least try to be honest.)

What this list of fellow travelers suggests is that Todd Akin’s beliefs aren’t really the issue. The real problem is that he has embarrassed the GOP establishment by putting the crazy on display at an inopportune time – and then he defied their efforts to sweep him under the rug. After all, any state where folks routinely vote radical GOP extremists into more than half of their elective offices probably isn’t going to be too finicky about one more whackaloon.    

( – promoted by Michael Bersin)

In 2004, before she ran for Congress, Vicky Hartzler was the spokesperson for the campaign to amend the Missouri Constitution to outlaw same sex marriages and civil unions. A Massachusetts court had just ruled in favor of marriage equality, so some on the religious right were nervous, upset and willing to work to prevent gay people from getting legal recognition for their relationships. On July 27, 2004, Hartzler went on a Christian radio show to promote her crusade against marriage equality. In the course of the 15 minute interview, Hartzler draws comparisons between gay marriage and 10 different things that are very different from gay marriage. Here’s her list:

1. Untested social experiment

2. 12-year-olds with driver’s licenses

3. Blind people with driver’s licenses

4. Impersonating a doctor

5. Counterfeit $20 bills

6. Driving 90 miles per hour

7. Three people getting married

8. Five people getting married

9. Polygamy

10. A man marrying a horse

Here is a 2 minute video highlighting each of the items above:

And here is the full 15 minute interview:

Here’s a transcript of the full interview.

Hartzler is running for reelection this year in Missouri’s 4th Congressional District. If you would like to be represented by someone who doesn’t go on the air and compare same-sex relationships to man-on-horse sex, then you might want to vote for her opponent, Teresa Hensley.

Senator Claire McCaskill demonstrates complete disdain for the 10 point lead that Rasmussen is trying to foist off on her:

@clairecmc

Rasmussen poll made me laugh out loud. If anyone believes that, I just turned 29. Sneaky stuff.

I usually take Rasmussen with a pinch of salt as well, but one can’t help wondering just why McCaskill’s so vehement about their results – especially since their bias seems to be running the wrong way. Remember the day. I can almost guarantee you it’ll be a cold day in July when you hear another politician trying to diss a poll that gives him/her a ten point lead.

Of course, we’ve also got a poll from Public Policy Polling (PPP), taken directly after the Akin flap, that shows no change from a month ago – Akin in the lead by one point.  This poll, however, excited some scepticism based on the sampling technique. Jim Geraghty of the National Review Online suggested that its sampling skewed toward Republicans. Of course, in this case, PPP would be showing a bias that contradicts the common perception of its sympathies.

And don’t forget, though, there’s noise that Akin is basing his decision to stay in the race, at least to some extent, on an internal poll that found a breakdown similar to that of PPP.

Rasmussen released a poll today of five hundred likely Missouri voters interviewed on August 22nd. The margin of error is 4.5%.

Missouri Survey of 500 Likely Voters

Conducted August 22, 2012

By Rasmussen Reports

*Please note that we split the survey to rotate the order of the candidates, so while half will hear the Republican first, the other half hears the Democrat mentioned first.

1* If the 2012 election for U.S. Senate were held today, would you vote for Republican Todd Akin or Democrat Claire McCaskill?

Todd Akin – 38%

Claire McCaskill – 48%

Some Other Candidate – 9%

Not Sure – 5%

[….]

4* Should Akin withdraw from the campaign and have the Republicans select another candidate to run against Senator Claire McCaskill?

Yes – 41%

No – 42%

Not sure – 17%

[….]

7* Do you have a very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable or very unfavorable impression of Medicare?

Very favorable – 21%

Somewhat favorable – 39%

Somewhat unfavorable – 25%

Very unfavorable – 10%

Not sure – 5%

[….]

The first and fourth questions might explain this.

Then again, this is a is Rasmussen poll. That can be no comfort to republicans.

A new Rasmussen poll is out on the Akin-McCaskill race.

Todd Akin has fallen behind Sen. Claire McCaskill by double digits in the Missouri Senate race, according to a Rasmussen automated phone poll released Thursday.

The survey taken Wednesday shows McCaskill leading Akin, 48 percent to 38 percent, among 500 likely Missouri voters. Nine percent preferred another candidate, and 5 percent were undecided.

And, someone has secretly recorded what it has been like in the Akin home.

I can’t seem to embed the actually video. You need to click on the link above.

Marsha appears to be some producer at Fox News.

Unfortunately, the elevator ride that Akin took after his interview last weekend was not available to be shown.

President Obama in Las Vegas, Nevada today:

President Obama: The actions that we took during the first two years of my administration helped save the jobs of four hundred thousand educators. [cheers, applause] That made a difference for our kids, it made a difference in our communities. Now part of the jobs bill that I sent to the new Congress last September would have helped states like Nevada prevent further layoffs, would allow them to rehire teachers who had lost their jobs. But Republicans in Congress, led….

Audience: Boo!

President Obama: No, no, no, no, no. Don’t boo. Vote! [cheers applause]

You betcha.

From Vicky Hartzler’s campaign:

Hartzler statement on Congressman Akin

Harrisonville – Vicky Hartzler stated today, “Like many Missourians, I found Congressman Akin’s comments baffling, disturbing and misinformed. Over the last few days I have attempted to communicate with him personally; however, my repeated attempts have been unsuccessful. Due to the serious nature of this issue, I hope and pray he will make the right decision for himself, his family and our country and follow the advice of Senators Blunt, Bond, Ashcroft, Talent and Danforth.”

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r) (left) and Rep. Todd Akin (r) (right) – splitsville.

Lex Luthor: Guy’s a clod. Promises were made, gifts exchanged….

Well, something changed – from three days ago:

Akin blasted for ‘legitimate rape’ comment

By Rudi Keller

Published August 19, 2012 at 4:18 p.m., Updated August 20, 2012 at 2 p.m.

….Through spokesman Steve Walsh, Hartzler declined to comment on Akin’s statement. “Congressman Akin made a comment, and he has said he misspoke,” Walsh said. “There is no reason for Congresswoman Hartzler to weigh in.”

[emphasis added]

What was it?

Previously:

Teresa Hensley (D): Vicky Hartzler (r) and Todd Akin (r) (August 20, 2012)

Teresa Hensley (D): Vicky Hartzler (r) and Todd Akin (r) – part 2 (August 22, 2012)

Previously: Campaign Finance: Dave Spence (r) writes his campaign another monster check (August 19, 2012)

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C111205 08/22/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Menlo Smith 15009 Manchester Rd. #284 Ballwin MO 63011 Retired Retired 8/22/2012 $10,000.00

C111205 08/22/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR William Holekamp 5 Barclay Woods St Louis MO 63124 Holekamp Capital President 8/22/2012 $50,000.00

C111205 08/22/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Robert OBrien 121 Linden Ave. St Louis MO 63105 OB Capital Executive 8/22/2012 $50,000.00

C111205 08/22/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR RGA Missouri PAC 1747 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Ste. 250 Washington DC 20006 8/22/2012 $15,703.12

[emphasis added]

In comparison it just doesn’t seem to be that much.