Republican Senator Scott Brown today added to his comments calling on Congressman Todd Akin to apologize, and now says the Congressman, engaged in a race for the U.S. Senate, to withdraw. Akin infamously claimed over the weekend that women who are victims of “legitimate rape” can somehow automagically prevent their bodies from becoming pregnant.
“As a husband and father of two young women, I found Todd Akin’s comments about women and rape outrageous, inappropriate and wrong, Senator Brown said in a statement. “There is no place in our public discourse for this type of offensive thinking. Not only should he apologize, but I believe Rep. Akin’s statement was so far out of bounds that he should resign the nomination for US Senate in Missouri.”
Brown is currently losing to Elizabeth Warren by an average of about two percentage points, and has been working hard to capture votes from those minorities he has lost, like the LGBT community and women.
For his part, Congressman Akin has yet to apologize, and merely stated he “misspoke,” before turning to the topic of unemployment in his statement yesterday.
Statistically speaking, Senator McCaskill, who up until Akin’s offensive remarks yesterday was down by about eight points in her race against Akin to hold her seat, has a better chance of winning if Akin stays in the race, as the GOP will replace him with another, less controversial candidate if he quits.