Akin faces backlash at home

As Republicans nationwide attempted to distance themselves from Rep. Todd Akin's (R-Mo.) controversial comments on rape, Akin faced no friendlier audience at home, with Missourians from both parties speaking out against his comments.

After an interview with local Fox affiliate KTVI in which Akin said that pregnancies from rape are rare because, "if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down," went viral, national Republican figures — including GOP presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney — quickly denounced the statement.

But outrage boiled at home, too, with Republicans at best staying silent on the issue, while some came out in opposition to Akin.

Ryan Silvey, a Republican state representative who chairs the state's House Budget Committee, tweeted out on Monday morning that he's "one of the 64% of MO GOP voters who felt someone other than Akin would be the best candidate for US Senate." He later went on to tweet out his agreement with Romney's statement that Akin's comments were "insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong."

Andrea Plunkett, formerly a field director for Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign, also expressed her frustration with Akin's comments via Twitter.

"As an educated female Republican, I'd like to assure the world that Todd Akin is not representative of the whole of my party," she tweeted on Sunday night.

And Akin's former primary opponent, Sarah Steelman, tweeted early on Monday morning that "Todd Akin's remarks about 'legitimate rape' were inexcusable, insulting and embarrassing to the GOP."

The GOP lawmaker might have realized he was facing friendly fire at home, as he canceled a midday appearance on local conservative talk-show host Charlie Brennan's show. Brennan said that he didn't know specifically why Akin canceled, after having scheduled the interview on Friday to discuss his views on ending the federal school lunch program, but did suggest that maybe the congressman needed to "regroup."

"My opinion is that the longer he waits to try to put out this fire, the more damage he might suffer," Brennan said. He suggested Akin come out for a press conference or an interview on his show, because "he generally acquits himself very well when he is interviewed."

Akin did later come out for two interviews with prominent conservative talk-radio hosts: Mike Huckabee and Sean Hannity. He apologized during the interview with Huckabee, explaining that he meant "forcible" rather than "legitimate" rape and asserting that he understood the biological connection between rape and pregnancy.

But his response wasn't enough to prevent National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (R-Texas) from pressuring him to drop out, according to sources familiar with a conversation between the two lawmakers in which Cornyn told Akin he'd be jeopardizing the GOP's chances at taking back the Senate this fall. The NRSC indicated to Akin that they would withdraw planned $5 million in expenditures from the race if Akin persisted.

But persist he did, tweeting out his intentions to stay in the race and going on Hannity's show to explain why.

"I still believe I'm in the strongest position to" win he said in the interview, in part due to the tough primary battle he fought for the nomination.

The first deadline for Akin to drop out is is Tuesday at 5 p.m., giving Akin just less than 24 hours to rethink his plans, but there's no indication yet that he'll defer to calls for resignation from top Republicans.

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