It looks like the socially conservative wing of the GOP is circling the wagons when it comes to the Missouri Senate race:
Now that Todd Akin is officially on the ballot as a Senate candidate in Missouri, he’s picked up two prominent endorsers.
Former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum and prominent conservative Sen. Jim DeMint offered their backing Wednesday morning in an e-mail to supporters of Santorum’s group Patriot Voices.
The two issued a joint statement:
“If Republicans are to win back the Senate and stop President Obama’s liberal agenda, we must defeat Senator Claire McCaskill in Missouri. Her support of President Obama’s job-killing, big-spending policies are sending our country into an economic abyss. And her passionate support of ObamaCare is ensuring healthcare costs go up while quality of care goes down. Simply put, we cannot afford six more years of Senator McCaskill.
“Todd Akin is a principled conservative who is committed to winning and fighting for freedom in the U.S. Senate. Todd will work to stop reckless spending, stop the out of control debt, repeal the government takeover of healthcare, support our military and defend life at every stage.
“We support Todd Akin and hope freedom-loving Americans in Missouri and around the country will join us so we can save our country from fiscal collapse,” concluded Santorum and DeMint.”
Akin has resisted intense pressure to drop out from his Missouri’s Senate race against Sen. Claire McCaskill, since making his now-infamous “legitimate rape” comment in August. Republican leaders including Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn called on him to withdraw or reconsider his bid.
As expected, Tuesday’s 5 p.m. CT deadline expired as Akin remained in the race.
McCaskill, meanwhile, is out with her first negative ad against Akin:
This, I am sure, is only the beginning.
