It's this simple - if Akin stays in the race the dems will keep the senate

[LynneSin]

The senate is awfully tight right now and for the last couple of weeks Electoral Vote.com has shown that Missouri would go republican.

GOP needs Missouri if they are to retake the senate.

Right now the Senate if 53-47. The 2 Independents, Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman, side with the Democrats. Lieberman is retiring and it looks pretty likely that Angus King will win up in Maine since the democrats aren't putting any strong candidate to run in that election (It seems to be a Bernie Sanders situation and King is progressive). We will probably win Lieberman's seat and pick up Massachusetts. That will put us up 55-45. (assuming that Sanders and King will both side with the democrats)

HOWEVER

Right Electoral Votes.com has the GOP picking up 5 seats including Missouri (polls are from before the boffo comment) - states include MO MT NE ND WI. If that happens we're at 50-50 which means Biden would be the tiebreaker (provided that Obama wins). But the GOP may remind the dems that after the 2000 senate tie of 50-50 they shared power with the democrats (until Jeffords defected).

Mind you we have really tight races in Virginia (right now Kaine is slightly ahead) and practically tied in Arizona.

Thing is this - GOP saw Missouri as a strong win for them to regain the senate. If Akin stays in the race they probably will not regain the senate.

Mind you this is 3 months before the election so alot can change until then.

But you better believe that right now the powers to be in the GOP want Akin out so they can salvage Missouri and distance Paul Ryan from the awful personhood bill that he co-authored with Akin.

[AlinPA]

1. Akin is leading in the polls. I can't see Missouri GOP voters dropping him. He is saying what

they want to hear.

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Is, or was?

Any polling data since this shitstorm went through town?

[LynneSin]

4. Those polls were done before his dumbass comment (Done on Aug 12)

And it was a poll that tends to lead towards republicans.

[Tx4obama]

5. Those polls were taken BEFORE his screw up. n/t

[xmas74]

6. I live in Missouri.

The poll was done right after the primary, when he was bound to be riding high. It was also a poll that leaned Republican-and everyone knew it. Few in this state actually put any kind of belief in the poll, knowing how it was done.

This poll was done before it was public knowledge that he compared students grants and loans to "stage three cancer". It was done before it was public knowledge that he wanted an end to free and reduced school lunches for poor students because "government shouldn't be in the education business." It was done before the public knew that he wanted to end all forms of Medicare because "government shouldn't be in health care." And it was done before he ever made a single comment about rape.

The student loan comments screwed him with college age students. The school lunches screwed him with the poorer members of the GOP base who qualify for the service otherwise. And the Medicare comments screwed him with the senior crowd.

[AlinPA]

7. Thanks. Good information.

[xmas74]

15. Check out another one of my posts in this thread.

It has Claire's commercial about "student loans/stage three cancer" comments made by Akin. The commercial was released on Aug 14-two days after the poll was released.

She's actually doing a decent job and I think the polls will reflect it.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

11. Hopefully this screwed him with the women voters.

Great information. I didn't know any of that except the school lunches.

Thank you for sharing it here.

[xmas74]

14. You're welcome.

And Claire is currently beating the student loan info over the voters heads. That commercial started some time last week, right after the initial polls were released. Every couple of hours you get to hear Todd Akin, deserving Missouri students, student loans, and "stage three cancer" in a commercial.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="

" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Just wait until the new commercial comes out!

[xmas74]

3. Claire should win this race.

Maybe she won't be criticized so much here on DU if she does.

Anyway, Akin staying in will draw out the independents here in Missouri. A number of them are disgusted with him and are starting to talk about how disturbing Paul Ryan is to them. Let's hope that holds up and that the Repubs will also lose some of the House seats. Fourth District went red in 2010 for the first time in over 50 years. If Akin stays and makes a fool of himself this could be bad for Vicky Hartzler and really good for Teresa Hensley. (At least I hope-the Fourth is my district.)

[Laura PourMeADrink]

8. 50-50 only if we lose in Fl and he's ahead of Connie Mack now.

[Panasonic]

9. Electoral Votes should be beginning to analyze why their projections are wrong

and all 10 Republican seats are the ones that are in extreme danger.

MT, NE, WI and MO are now holds for Democrats.

The only real tossup is ND - and that's because it's so goddamn conservative that it might just throw an afterbirth just to say that it opposes abortion.

But let's take at the 10 seats that are seemingly "safe" for Republicans:

AZ - Jon Kyl - retiring - the Democrat better be kicking ass and putting every single Arizona's problems against Jan Brewer and her obtructionist policy. Easy enough to pick up if done right.

IN - Richard Lugar - The R candidate is Mourdock, and he is supposed to be an extreme or ideologically identical to Akins and Ryan. Slap a label on him and blare it on TV constantly - Red state suddenly becomes purple because of the digust of the Republicans.

TX - Yet another teabagger Republican that may be ideologically identical to Akins and Ryan - just slap the old extremist label on him, and he's done for.

MA - Brownie is history - Warren will wipe him down easily.

MS - Can we get rid of Wicker yet? Another deadwood Republican.

NV - Didn't I hear that Dean Heller is so full of scandal himself, he was supposed to resign, and didn't do so? Why should Akin do the same? Thusly, Heller should be thrown out with Reid's help.

Lost causes: Corker, Barrasso and Hatch. They should be reassigned to a committee that is irrelevant to anything that they want to bring pork home for, and in a miserable position that's so bad that they decide to resign and beg that Democrats replace them.

[tritsofme]

12. I'll take some of what you're smoking!

It sounds like a nice world over there, I would love to visit some time. I know the multiverse theory has been in the news lately, didn't realize DU enabled cross-posting.

[tritsofme]

10. Lieberman already caucuses with Dems, so no net gain from holding the seat.

And there are lot of other seats up for grab seats, but the larger point is right, Akin puts a huge hole through the GOP's plans to take the Senate.

[DearAbby]

13. Damage done

Spotlight in on.

[MiniMe]

16. The Virginia seat is in question too

KKarl Rove's group is supporting George Allen, it was his seat before his macaca comment 6 years ago. And Crossroads is hammering Tim Kaine. Interesting that they hammer Kaine and never mention Allen.