Todd Akin showed his natural ass yesterday. As a native Missourian I can say that. Yet as a native Missourian, here’s something you good liberals (religious and non-religious) need to understand; Todd Akin will win in November.
For those of you not familiar with Missouri politics, let me give you a drive-by. Politically, Missouri is divided this way; there’s the I-70 corridor and the rest (which is known as outstate Missouri). The I-70 corridor goes across the state from St. Louis to Kansas City and is roughly 50 miles wide (25 miles north and south of I-70). This part of the state (with a couple of exceptions–St. Charles County being the big one) is mostly “liberal”. Outstate Missouri is as “conservative” as “conservative” gets.
Now in Missouri politics, what you need to know is that Outstate HATES the I-70 corridor. Always has, and probably always will. There are a number of reasons for that, but I’m not going to get into them now.
Here’s what you need to understand…Todd Akin is from Outstate. Claire McCaskill is from the I-70 corridor.
Todd Akin, unless the Republican Party makes him drop out, will win in November because outstate Missouri agrees with him and he is one of them. And they HATE the I-70 corridor. Todd Akin knew what audience he was playing to; and it wasn’t the I-70 corridor. Todd Akin was playing to outstate. And the more outrage that comes from outside the state of Missouri, the better Todd Akin will look to the outstate folk.
Now…as many of you good religiously liberal people want to put him into an OWL class, that’s not what this is about. That’s not what the Missouri senate contest is about. No matter how ridiculous his words, Todd Akin knew exactly who he was playing to. He meant every word, and his supporters will not care that there is this outrage.
Todd Akin will win in November because Missouri is a lot different than most people think.
East Of Midnight 
I’ll be surprised if he’s a candidate tomorrow.
I actually think he will be a candidate after tomorrow. I think they are floating the idea of dropping out to see how that might play; and even if national Republicans aren’t happy with him, in Missouri, you’d be surprised at how much support he still has.
If more Missouri Republicans tell him to drop out, he might. But I don’t see that happening. In fact, I see the opposite happening.
Conservatives and GOP sure lining up against him. An Editorial in NRO, Coulter, Hannity, and this http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/with-todd-akins-rape-comments-abortion-is-back-in-the-campaign-spotlight/2012/08/20/c497bae4-eac7-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_story.html
I don’t think you’re getting my point Bill. I know that national Republicans are calling for him to bow out, that doesn’t matter in Missouri. Missouri Republicans aren’t calling him to do it. And Todd Akin doesn’t particularly care what the national party says, as long as Outstate people keep supporting him, he’ll stay in.
I do know Missouri politics, and everything I know about Missouri politics tells me that Todd Akin will stay in. And if he stays in, Todd Akin has more than a snowball’s chance in hell to win.
I just finished a novel set in Missouri like two days ago. I wish I’d had this to read before I read it.
What novel? I try to keep track of novels set in Missouri.
Glad I was able to give you some insight into my home state.
It is called “Dark Places” and mostly set in Kansas, but there’s some Missouri in it.
ah…ok…that explains it.
If I really wanted to get into it, I could have gone into the political differences between eastern and western Missouri and the differences in the hatred that Outstate has to Kansas City and St. Louis. But I really didn’t want to get into that, seeing as though I don’t think most people would understand what I was talking about.
One of these days I’d be interested in that I bet the tensions are somewhat like those we have in my neck of the woods between the richer, more liberal DC suburbs and the rural more conservative rest of Virginia but obviously it is so not a priority.
One of the great skills of being a successful campaigner is the art of counting votes.
I defer to you Kim now on all Missouri political prognostications.
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This is not the story of a single fool speaking “ off-the-cuff ,” (as Akin describes his own comments), thus shaming the Missouri Republicans who support him. Rather, his remarks have become part of a Democratic attempt to tar and feather Mitt Romney and other Republicans. What should have remained a Midwestern kerfuffle has mutated into ammunition for Democratic spin doctors.
I hope you read my post on Dominionist theology and ‘Inherit the Wind’. I won’t speak about the political implications of Todd Akin’s remarks (I was really remarking on outsiders ignorance of Missouri politics), but I will always speak about the policy and social implications of things. And I think Todd Akin’s remarks are a part of a much larger mood and has implications in how the next generation of students are taught and what they are taught.
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