Controversial comments about rape and pregnancy by Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., are being imported into other contests in the hope they will push suburban voters into the Democratic column.
Akin’s comments are being used in a radio ad in Massachusetts for Elizabeth Warren. Warren is trying to unseat Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., and is running the ad despite the fact that Brown was among the first calling for Akin to quit the race,
The Washington Post reported.
After running Akin’s comments, a narrator says in the ad, “Just imagine if Republicans win the White House, or gain control of the U.S. Senate.”
Akin said in a television interview that in cases of “legitimate rape,” women were unlikely to get pregnant because their reproductive systems shut down. GOP leaders, including Mitt Romney, have called on Akin to quit the race fearing how his comments could play across the country.
They have already had an effect in Missouri where Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., has jumped to a 10-point lead over Akin and President Barack Obama has taken a one-point lead over Romney after trailing in the state all year.
“A lot of districts we need to win this fall are suburban districts, and this kind of ideological extremism doesn’t play well there,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Jesse Ferguson told the Post.
Democrats believe the comments can have an effect in races in Florida, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The pro-abortion-rights group Emily’s List has been highlighting GOP candidates who joined Akin in sponsoring a 2011 measure that would have banned federal funding of abortions except in cases of “forcible rape,” the Post reported.
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