Rep. W. Todd Akin, Missouri Republican, talks with reporters about his Senate ... more >A slew of Mr. Akin’s would-be Republican Senate colleagues have also called on him to withdraw, including party leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Sens. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Olympia Snowe of Maine.
Mrs. Snowe said Republicans should “deny him any and all funding” if he continues to run.
Mr. Blunt issued a joint statement Tuesday with four former Missouri senators — John Ashcroft, John Danforth, Christopher Bond and James Talent — saying the election is “simply too important” for Mr. Akin to stay in the race.
Jennifer Duffy, an analyst for Cook Political Report, said the withdrawn party support is especially damaging because Mr. Akin has already been a lackluster fundraiser, picking up just $2.2 million in contributions as of mid-July compared with $10.25 million for Mrs. McCaskill.
“He’s not a big fundraiser and his money is going to dry up,” Ms. Duffy said, adding that she moved the race from a tossup to a Democratic lean in the aftermath of Mr. Akin’s remarks. “The pressure is not going to end. They are not going to go, ‘OK, have it your way.’”
Democrats have seized upon Mr. Akin’s comments, calling them indicative of attitudes throughout the Republican Party that they consider unfriendly toward women.
The party launched its latest attack Tuesday, blasting Republicans for approving a platform for their upcoming GOP convention that supports a constitutional amendment to ban abortion without stated exceptions for incest or rape.
The stance is similar to one expressed by Republicans leading up to the 2004 and 2008 conventions, but Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz blasted Mr. Romney in a conference call Tuesday for not demanding that it be revised or removed.
Mr. Akin “is not alone in his extreme and dangerous views,” said Mrs. Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman. “This isn’t the kind of leadership that women and their families can afford.”
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David Hill joined The Washington Times in February 2011 as a Maryland political reporter. He can be reached at dhill@washingtontimes.com.
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