I live in a very rural conservative county in Missouri and Akin sabotaged himself. He made stupid statements and took Claire McCaskills advice to stay in the race, while Sarah Palin and Alan West were begging him to drop out. You can’t blame that on anyone but Akin.
It is true that Todd Akin made some inarticulate statements.
However, had the GOP supported him, instead of tearing him down and disowning him, he would have won.
Rove and the other GOP bigwigs all but told the voters of Missouri not to vote for Todd Akin.
The loss of this seat lies squarely on the shoulders of the GOP.