Todd Akin 2016? The former Missouri Republican representative hinted that he may not be done with politics.
‘”It’s one of those things that depends on the circumstances really. I don’t rule anything out,” he said, brightly, when asked if he’d run again in an TV interview with St. Louis’s KSDK. “I consider it a bright new future and I’m interested to see what the possibilities are.”
In August 2012, Akin made headlines with his unique ideas on science: “If it’s a legitimate rape,” Akin said, “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” The remark went viral and Akin’s reputation was trashed. He subsequently lost his bid for Missouri’s U.S. Senate seat to Claire McCaskill, a Democrat.
But for now, he’s moving on.
“If you start to blame everyone else for something that happened you didn’t like, it will destroy you. It will eat you alive,” Akin said, recalling the infamous remark. “All of us are fallible, we make mistakes, and we say things the wrong way,”
The Republican Party isn’t nearly so forgiving. Earlier this year, Republican strategist Karl Rove launched a new super PAC aimed at opposing candidates like Akin.
“Some people think the best we can do is Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock—they’re wrong,” Rove said on Fox News in February. “We need to do better if we hope to take over the United States Senate. We need to get better conservative candidates and win.”
This year has seen a swell of disgraced politicians looking for a comeback: former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican, is running for Congress in a special election in South Carolina, and former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Democrat, is reportedly considering a run to be mayor of New York. But Sanford and Weiner had issues with fidelity, not biology, and haven’t earned the ire of party leadership. Still, Akin isn’t fazed by his party boss’ words. “Karl Rove has made himself an expert. I think I lost one race. He managed to lose about 12 of them in one night.”
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