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“Legitimate rape” became a Twitter trending topic in the U.S. this afternoon after liberal blog Talking Points Memo posted a video of Rep. Todd Akin claiming that victims of “legitimate rape” are unlikely to become pregnant.

U.S. Rep. Todd Akin of Wildwood is leading in the hard-fought battle of conservatives for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, according to early statewide returns. With 515 of the state's 3,428 precints reporting, Akin has 32,050 votes, or 34 percent; followed by 29,675 for former state treasurer Sarah Steelman of Rolla, at 31 percent; and 28,463 for businessman John G. Brunner of Frontenac with 28,463 votes, or 30 percent. Five other candidates trail far behind. There will be much more to count as the night goes on. The winner will face Sen. Claire McCaskill, who is seeking re-election to...

ST. LOUIS • A television ad shows U.S. Rep. Todd Akin sitting in front of an American flag, talking with constituents and generally looking serious, as a narrator declares him "Missouri's true conservative." Akin is "the most conservative congressman in Missouri," says the recent spot. He's "a crusader against bigger government" and has a "pro-family agenda." The commercial sounds as if it came from the Akin campaign. But it didn't. And it isn't from any of his conservative supporters, either. In fact, it was paid for by Sen. Claire McCaskill — the incumbent Democrat and the ultimate opponent of whoever...

Interestingly, if they really cared about the middle class, they’d call for a reduction in taxes on those making less than $200k individual/$250 joint (Washington Post) The Senate on Wednesday narrowly approved a plan to preserve tax cuts for the middle class while letting them expire for the wealthy, a powerful if largely symbolic victory for Democrats who have been pushing to raise taxes on the rich for more than a decade. The measure is dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled House, where leaders are preparing to vote next week on their own plan to extend the George W. Bush-era...

Congress: The Senate Majority Leader hasn't proposed a budget in three years, won't bring tax cuts to the floor, yet adds Olympic uniforms to a priority list that includes boxing rules, cowboy poetry and a train to nowhere. It's been more than three years since the Senate of Majority Leader Harry Reid last passed a budget, and a tsunami of tax increases threatens to swamp the economy in 2013. So on Thursday Reid decided to take on the critical issue of the U.S. Olympic team's Ralph Lauren-designed uniforms. It seems the uninspiring uniforms are being made in China. So are...

Republican John Brunner's U.S. Senate campaign is acknowleging that Brunner's former company was more than two months late paying property taxes on a company-owned plane in 2006—an admission that Democrats hope will take incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill's own tax problems off the table as a campaign issue. Brunner is one of three major candidates vying for the GOP nomination in Missouri's Aug. 7 primary. The winner will challenge McCaskill, D-Mo., in the Nov. 6 general election.

"It's one of the few issues that's considered fatal in campaign filing," said Jackson County Clerk Larry Reinhardt. "In essence the law says if these are not permanently bound the candidates will not be allowed on the ballot." That is why four republican candidates won't be on the ballot in November. The Jackson County Electoral Board said paper clips on the candidates' filing papers weren't permanent enough.

BY KEVIN McDERMOTT > kmcdermott@post-dispatch.com > 314-952-9667 stltoday.com | Posted: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 2:21 pm Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is confirming that she will not attend the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., in September. A statement from her office says it's standard practice for her when she's running for election. But one Republican official is calling it "a pathetic attempt to distance herself from Barack Obama." In an emailed statement attributed to an unnamed aide, McCaskill's office said she is declining to attend because she's is running for office herself.

Missouri Democratic senator Claire McCaskill is "hiding" from reporters after the Supreme Court's Obamacare decision yesterday, according to a local news report:  VIDEO McCaskill won't say where she stands on Obamacare, though she voted for it. And she won't make her self available to members of the press curious to hear her thoughts.  "There's only ever been one goal for Claire. Affordable, accessible health care for Missouri," a spokesman for the senator told the local news outlet.  The Missouri senator is in the middle of a close reelection battle. Her past support of Obamacare is thought to pose a great...

With the news now that MO Senator Claire McCaskill will probably be skipping the Democrat convention in Charlotte, she is joining other politicos also doing the same including the West Virginia Democrats. This could be the trickle of no-shows that turns into a flood. Okay, so who do you think will be the NEXT Democrat to bail on Charlotte? My prediction is that Florida Senator Bill Nelson will be the next to announce that he will be too "busy" to show up in Charlotte. What are your predictions?

Senate Democrats balk at ending Bush-era tax rates for wealthyBy Alexander Bolton - 06/19/12 05:00 AM ET A growing number of Senate Democrats are signaling they are not prepared to raise taxes on anyone in the weak economy unless Congress approves a grand bargain to reduce the deficit. At least seven Democratic senators have declined to rule out supporting a temporary extension of the Bush-era income tax rates, breaking with party leaders who have called for letting the rates expire for people earning more than $1 million per year. That gives Senate Republicans a chance to push a temporary extension...

Harry Stone was on one of his usual jogs in a Kansas City suburb shortly before 7:30 a.m. Sunday when an approaching car slowed down and a passenger shot him. The vehicle kept going without stopping, and Stone, 60, later died at a hospital. Nearly a week later, police in Raytown, Missouri, say they have no suspects, and no one has any idea why he was targeted. He wasn’t robbed. He didn’t have any known enemies. And a gang-initiation hit appears implausible, Raytown police Capt. Ted Bowman said. “Even grasping at straws and imagining motives, we have been able to...

GOP money floods battlegrounds, threatens Dems' hold on SenateBy Alexander Bolton - 05/01/12 05:00 AM ET Third-party groups allied with the Republican Party have vastly outspent Democratic incumbents and their backers in Senate battlegrounds. The disparity in advertising firepower threatens Democratic control of the Senate and could have an impact on the presidential race as well. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a first-term Democrat from Ohio, has been the primary target of outside groups, which have outspent his allies by a ratio of 10-1 this election cycle. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Crossroads GPS and 60Plus Association have funded the bulk of...

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's car wash headache is raging once again. The bank that loaned the Kansas City congressman and his wife $1.3 million in 2002 to buy the Grandview Auto Wash at 12204 Blue Ridge Extension is now demanding payment of more than $1.5 million, after the Cleavers repeatedly fell behind on repaying the loan. The suit, filed last week in Jackson County Circuit Court, said the demand for repayment came after three attempts to delay foreclosure. Bank of America also is seeking attorney’s fees and a receiver to protect collateral. “The Cleaver Company failed and refused, and continues...

Dem Keystone support creates tougher fight for Reid, ObamaBy Alexander Bolton - 12/16/11 04:08 PM ET Republicans want to jam Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on the Keystone oil sands pipeline and the Democratic leader will have a tough time resisting, given support within his caucus for the project. GOP leaders have made clear to Reid that they will not approve an extension of the payroll tax holiday unless it includes language to speed up construction of the pipeline. Senate Republicans estimate as many as 14 Senate Democrats support the project. Labor unions have also voiced strong backing, complicating...

Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, has asked The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to review the Obama administration’s award of a $443 million sole-source contract to a company owned by a major Democratic donor. The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this month that the Obama administration has taken unusual steps to procure an experimental smallpox vaccine from a company owned by a major Democratic donor despite concerns from some experts that such a drug was unnecessary and would not be effective. Citing “serious questions” about the contract, the Los Angeles Times reported that McCaskill has asked the...

Democratic Senator from Missouri Claire McCaskill runs essentially even with two Republican challengers in the first Rasmussen Reports look at her reelection bid in 2012. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Missouri Likely Voters shows former State Treasurer Sarah Steelman with 47% support against McCaskill’s 45%.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., has sold a private plane she co-owns with her husband, months after her use of it for official business and failure to pay back taxes created a political headache... First she repaid the government $88,000 after she was criticized for reimbursing herself for use of the plane on official and political travel. Then she paid $287,000 in back taxes, penalties and interest to St. Louis County. ... McCaskill, seeking re-election in 2012, faces a tough race in a state she narrowly won in 2006. Republicans have pounded McCaskill on the plane, dubbing it "Air Claire" .

1. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. 2. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. 3. Jon Tester, D-Mont. 4. Scott Brown, R-Mass. 5. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah 6. Dick Lugar, R-Ind. 7. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio 8. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. 9. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine 10. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

I just got this email. The brazen lies have me livid. Claire has got to go.