The Hill reports today that Senator Jim DeMint may yet rally the troops to Congressman Todd Akin’s side. A few key passages:
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) will attend a $500-per-plate fundraiser for Akin on Monday. He told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Republicans need Missouri to win the Senate.
“I don’t see how the Republicans are going to win the Senate if they throw away a seat like Missouri,” he said.
Missouri Republicans have a bold streak of social conservatism — Rick Santorum handily defeated Romney in the Missouri primary — and they have shown far more willingness to stick with Akin than GOP leaders in Washington.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has a strong following among social conservatives, slammed party leaders in August for abandoning Akin.
Polls show Akin has kept pace with McCaskill despite the decision by the NRSC and the pro-GOP super-PAC Crossroads GPS to pull television ads in the state.
A survey by Rasmussen Reports last week showed McCaskill with a 6-point lead, 49 percent to 43.
But DeMint said polls show Missouri is a more likely Republican pick-up than Maine.
“The polls would suggest it is,” he said.
DeMint and Cornyn clashed during the 2010 election cycle, when DeMint supported conservative insurgents such as Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Cornyn backed more centrist candidates.
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