Is this how the Republicans blow the chance to win control of the Senate in November?  Listening to Jamie Dupree this morning, that could well be the case. 

We’re talking about Missouri GOP Senate Candidate Todd Akin and his completely brain-dead screw-up over the weekend on the abortion issue.  Not that I’m a political genius, but I’ve been saying repeatedly over the last year that the more Republican candidates and surrogates hammer the abortion issue the more they’re going to hurt themselves in the election.  Now we’re seeing that come true … vividly. 

The issue here isn’t how you feel about abortion .. the issue is how this plays with the voters .. more specifically, the three sub-sets of female voters:  Republican women, independent women and Democrat women.  Let’s look at how Akin’s remarks about “legitimate abortion” affected all three groups:

Democrat women:  Made no difference.  They weren’t going to vote for Akin before, and their position is now hardened.  They’re voting for McCaskill. 

Republican women:  Might cause a few GOP votes.  For the most part, these women will still vote Republican.  But there is a chance some Republican women who feel uncomfortable over Akin’s remark might cause some of them to sit on their hands on election day. 

Independent women:  Ahhhh.  Here’s where it hurts.  It’s hard to imagine an undecided independent female voter hearing Akin’s remarks and suddenly deciding that that he’s the man.  “Oh wow!  This guy categorizes rape as ‘legitimate’ and ‘illegitimate?”  And he would be opposed to an abortion for a woman who was raped?  Well, I made up MY mind!  I’m voting for him!”  Yeah … like that’s going to happen.

OK … I understand what Akin was saying about “legitimate” rape.  In jurisdictions where abortions are restricted the theory is that a woman might claim that her pregnancy was the result of a rape when it was not.  That, I guess, was an “illegitimate” rape.  But these voters are not going to consider or pay attention to those nuances.  They hear a MAN talking about a WOMAN can and cannot do after she is raped by a MAN.  Oh yeah!  They just can wait to get out there and show their support for this guy. 

Akin needs to withdraw from the race TODAY.  The only thing that will prevent him from doing so will be his ego.  If he stays in he will most likely lose.  He will lose not only because of his remarks, but because he showed after those remarks that this election is more about him than it is about the country and reversing the damage done by Obama and mindless proggies like Claire McCaskill.