Today's the Last Day Todd Akin Can Legitimately Drop Out of the Senate Race

How much do you want to bet that Claire McCaskill is crossing all of her crossable phalanges right now? Her Missouri Senate opponent is Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin, and Akin has until the end of the day to legally remove his name from the November ballot. If he doesn’t, the best hope the Republican party has to retake McCaskill’s Senate seat is to have a very popular person with a very memorable name (“God.”) run as a write-in candidate.

Before Akin fucked up royally by saying aloud things that many Republicans have the good sense to quietly think, GOP officials hoped that the Akin/McCaskill race could help tip the Senate in favor of the GOP. But now, almost everyone important has publicly disavowed Akin’s comments that when a woman is “legitimately raped,” it’s almost impossible for her to get pregnant because the female body has ways to “shut that whole thing down.” Funding has been cut. On a national level, the GOP has cut funding from Akin’s campaign, and Romney has urged the six-term Congressman to drop out of the race so the party can pick a suitable replacement.

But Akin has soldiered on, and if he doesn’t drop out by the end of the day today, his name will appear on the November ballot opposite Claire McCaskill, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it. Per CNN,

Under Missouri law, Akin can still file a court petition by Tuesday to ensure his name does not appear on most general election ballots. (Ballots to military members overseas have already gone out.)

He would also be required to pay for any necessary reprinting of ballots. And the state Republican committee could choose a replacement candidate

But Akin has repeatedly said he has no desire to drop out.

Without support from the national party, Akin’s ass is pretty broke, so it’s unlikely that he’ll be interested in replacing the ballots himself. He’s also told reporters that he’s definitely, totally, all-encompassingly in. There’s nothing the GOP can do. Ballots have already gone out to the troops. If he’s not off the ballot by the end of the day today, he’s on the ballot in November. There’s no way the Republican party can shut this whole thing down.

The real irony in this whole debacle is that it demonstrated that the uterus, according to Akin’s own assertion, is more powerful and well-organized than the GOP.

[CNN]