Akin gathering steam in race

Polls showing him gaining on McCaskill has led to an infusion of funds for campaign ads on Akin's behalf

Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) is showing signs of a newfound strength on the campaign trail — making multiple new ad buys as polling shows him gaining on Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).

Akin and groups supporting him are making a $1.75 million investment in campaign ads this week, according to his campaign, allowing him to air a wider variety of ads than the incumbent Senator for the first time in the entire race.

That influx of cash has wider implications than just Akin's campaign: His win in Missouri's Senate race would boost what are looking like slim chances for Republicans to take back the majority in the Senate.

Akin’s late-August comments, that pregnancy in cases of “legitimate rape” are rare because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” drew fire from Republicans nationwide, with the National Republican Senatorial Committee cutting off his campaign after he refused to exit the race.

He dropped in polling against McCaskill, who was considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic senators, and grumblings began among the GOP that Akin's decision could cost them the Senate.

But Akin persisted, running a scrappy campaign based on grassroots fundraising and an anti-establishment rallying cry that kept the candidate mostly stable in the polls.

Akin went from a low of 38 percent support in one poll, conducted in the days after his comments drew national scrunity, to just a 2-percentage-point deficit in one recent independent poll released last weekend. One Republican internal poll has Akin and McCaskill tied.

Democrats dispute those polls, pointing out that the one putting him within the margin-of-error of McCaskill was conducted by the same pollster that predicted a third-place finish for Akin in the competitive GOP primary, which he eventually won.

McCaskill’s own internals have shown her ahead by double-digits, and the RealClearPolitics average of polls still puts her up by 5 percentage points.

But the new polling is enough to have sparked an infusion of outside money on Akin’s behalf.

Over the past week, outside groups backing Akin have spent nearly double what’s been spent by outside groups for McCaskill, according to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics.

That includes the launch of a $1 million-buy by Now or Never PAC, a $550,000 buy by Faith Family Freedom Fund and at least $100,000 in ads from America’s Liberty PAC, affiliated with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

Akin’s campaign also launched their own $600,000 buy on Thursday, which followed a nearly $700,000 joint buy from Akin and the Missouri Republican Party.

That expenditure raised eyebrows, as the state party didn’t have enough money to back their portion as of Oct. 17 — and the funds could have only come from a surge in donations over the past week and a half or a transfer from the national party committees.

A spokesman for the Republican National Committee said the funds did not come from them, and the NRSC did not respond to requests for comment. If the money did come from them, it would be a reversal of their original decision to cut off their nominee and back up claims that Akin is competitive in the race.

Akin’s campaign says the challenger has a wider variety of ads on air than McCaskill, though the incumbent senator has a higher volume of ads running, according to a Democratic source that tracks ad buys.

But a late infusion of cash can’t do much for a challenger down in the polls, facing an incumbent at 50 percent support or higher. Akin, however, may be facing the perfect political climate for the spending surge to take effect.

McCaskill, who returned to the campaign trail Wednesday following the death of her mother, has vastly outspent Akin for the majority of the election — her campaign spent $7 million in the third quarter alone, to Akin’s $1.3 million — but she's been unable to gain a double-digit lead on the challenger since the week after his comments broke.

And Mitt Romney has retained a solid lead over President Obama in the state, ahead by double digits in most surveys, an advantage that Missouri Republican strategist Jeff Roe says could be enough to boost Akin to a win on Election Day.

“This isn’t exactly an independent decision [from Missouri voters]. If they’re going to send Romney to the White House, why wouldn’t they send a Republican Senator to vote with him?”

The high number of undecideds at this point -- 8 percent in the last poll -- also makes the race ripe for a last-minute spending splurge taking effect.

Rick Tyler, Akin’s senior adviser, said they’re hoping the new investments will give Akin the platform to spread the message he’s been sharing with voters all along.

“This week, not only do we have a very strong message, we have the means to make sure that every Missouri voter has it,” he said.

The campaign is running four positive spots and one attack ad this week, which is part of what Tyler described as the campaign’s goal in the final stretch: “To make [Missouri voters] feel good about voting for Todd.”

McCaskill and Democrats have done all they can over the past two months to make it near-impossible for Missouri voters to feel good about voting for Akin — running multiple negative ads based on his comments — but his support has stayed relatively stable since that initial drop.

And as Roe points out, that effort may have backfired — and may be part of what’s fueling the sudden support for Akin in the last days of his improbable campaign.

“At some point, the Republicans just saw their guy getting his teeth kicked in over nothing, and they just kind of started saying, ‘He might be a sonofabitch, but he’s our sonofabitch,” he said.

It angers me to see the barrage of despicable, misleading TV ads against Todd Akin that are being aired by the McCaskill campaign. She ran an ad where a man claimed that he has a son and a son-in-law in the Marines and said that he doesn’t think he can trust Todd Akin to care for them when they get out.

Akin served in the Army and he has three sons who served overseas with the Marines. And the goofy guy doesn’t trust Akin to care for his boys? I’d definitely trust Todd Akin before I’d trust Claire McCaskill, Obama’s lap dog.

Katiedidit1 posted a great Akin ad of REAL veterans who support Akin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd0kzrdNP1g

We all need to go to McCaskill and Akin’s facebook sites and fight the trolls. I honestly believe I converted a McCaskill supporter due to a post I made on Obamacare.
Have to fight them in their own backyards.

Got a recorded call from Ashcroft and his wife...supporting Akin. Everyone waited so late to get onboard

Another lie by McCaskill in regards to the veterans..

McCaskill has made at least two specific accusations. Both are baseless.

Accusation #1: “In 2005, Todd Akin Opposed Additional Job Training Assistance for Veterans Returning from Overseas”

The Truth: The vote in question was a “motion to recommit” which is a procedural vote used to kill the bill. If this Democratic motion had passed, it would have killed the whole bill, bringing down all of the Job Training Improvement Act of 2005 (H.R. 27). This vote was a political stunt, not serious legislation. Every Republican voted against it, including the Chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee. Even worse, the Job Training Improvement Act of 2005 contained significant resources specifically for veterans workforce investment programs, so voting for this amendment to kill the bill was a vote to keep veterans from receiving job training.

Accusation #2: “In 2005, Todd Akin Opposed $50 Million Increase for Military Transitional Job Training”

The Truth: Once again, this amendment was a “motion to recommit” which is a procedural vote to kill the bill. If this amendment had passed, it would have killed the bill and directly prevented adequate funding from reaching our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Only two Republicans voted for this motion to recommit, both of whom were openly anti-war. Rep. Jack Murtha, the top Democrat on the Defense Appropriations Committee also voted NO on this amendment. The very next vote, to pass the underlying Iraq funding bill, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, 388-43. The final version of this bill passed 100-0 in the Senate.

If you want to find out more, read Todd’s veterans page.

Jonathan Dine is running for MO senate as a libertarian..he is a felon...check this out..So, who is Jonathan Dine? For starters, he’s a convicted felon whom Missouri law would bar from the ballot in any state or local contest. (State law may not add additional qualifications (like not being a felon) for candidates for federal office over and above the bare requirements provided in the U.S. Constitution.) In addition to convictions for possession of marijuana (kind of a badge of honor for a Libertarian) and driving while intoxicated, Dine also has a 2005 conviction for identity theft. He favors gay marriage and drug decriminalization, while opposing U.S. “interventionist” foreign policy.

So, let’s get this straight. A set of mostly conservative voters who overwhelmingly and equally (67%) disapprove of both McCaskill and Akin are resolving their conflict by voting for a convicted identity thief who favors gay marriage, drug legalization and a foreign policy the Green Party could endorse?

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