The National Republican Senatorial Committee has issued a statement saying it is no longer ruling out the prospect of spending money on Akin's campaign. Today's statement comes in opposition to Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus' comment last month that the RNC was cutting off its support for Akin on the heels of the "legitimate rape" comment. CNN quoted Priebus on Aug. 20:
"We're not going to send any money toward that race or spend money on the ground in that particular race. We're obviously going to work very hard for a nominee in Missouri up and down the ticket, congressional seats. But I've already called off the phone banks and all of the volunteers for Congressman Akin's race there."
–Priebus on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer."
Three days ago (two days before the withdrawal deadline), Priebus made a similar comment on ABC:
"We're not going to play in Missouri with Todd Akin, I can tell you that. So it'll be yet to be seen whether he stays in or not."
–Priebus on ABC's "This Week."
Today, the NRSC issued a statement saying the following (from the Washington Post):
“There is no question that for Missourians who believe we need to stop the reckless Washington spending, rein-in the role of government in people’s lives, and finally focus on growing jobs in this country, that Todd Akin is a far more preferable candidate than liberal Sen. Claire McCaskill,” NRSC executive director Rob Jesmer said. “As with every Republican Senate candidate, we hope Todd Akin wins in November, and we will continue to monitor this race closely in the days ahead.”
Rick Santorum and Jim DeMint also announced their support for Akin today – The Note has their joint statement here. The following have thrown their support behind Akin after initially calling for him to drop out of the race (from ThinkProgress):
- Roy Blunt issued a statement yesterday saying "I’ll be working for the Republican ticket in Missouri, and that includes Todd Akin." This comes less than a month after he told MSNBC "Todd needs to get out of this race."
- The Missouri Republican Party issued a statement saying it stands behind Akin. This comes less than a month after State Party Chairman David Cole sent a memo saying Akin's comments "are not just a distraction—they pose a threat to our party's retaking control of the US Senate and impact other races here in Missouri."
1 comment:
What alternative do they have? They missed the deadline to put somebody else on the ballot so he's their candidate regardless of what they think about him so they might as well promote him.
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