This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 31, 2012 - U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., returned to the campaign trail Wednesday for the first time since her mother’s death and immediately resumed where she left off – blasting Republican rival Todd Akin as an extremist.
“This is a congressman who has stood on the edge, on the fringe,’’ said McCaskill, who was joined with several retired teachers outside a grade school in the Bayless School District. “I think I’m the only candidate running for the U.S. Senate who has an opponent who’s against the school lunch program.”
McCaskill said Akin’s opposition to the federal program – he has said it should be a state function – was just one of many ill-conceived views that “harm Missouri’s families.”
She cited votes Akin has cast against federal disaster-relief programs, implying that the congressman would not support the massive federal role needed for the cleanup and repairs following Hurricane Sandy, which hit the upper East Coast earlier this week.
“He is someone who believes the government is the problem,” McCaskill said. “I don’t believe the government is the answer, but it’s not the enemy.”
It's "now" for Now or Never PAC
Meanwhile, Akin is getting help from an adversary-turned-ally -- the Now or Never PAC, which announced Wednesday that it plans to spend $800,000 on a late blitz of TV ads. The 30-second spot seeks to link Akin with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who is expected to handily win Missouri, and tie McCaskill to President Barack Obama.
The political action committee's contributors include two top Missouri Republican donors: businessman Stanley Herzog of St. Joseph, Mo., and wealthy financier Rex Sinquefield, who has a home in St. Louis. Now or Never PAC’s original purpose had been to back one of Akin’s GOP primary rivals, Sarah Steelman, whom he defeated Aug. 7.
“Todd Akin may have not been our first choice for Republican nominee in the race to replace Claire McCaskill,” said PAC spokesman Tyler Harber. But he added that the PAC wanted to help Akin win because “Now or Never PAC is committed to helping the Republican Party recapture the U.S. Senate.”
The PAC’s hefty buy guarantees that its ad will be on TV stations around the state frequently until Election Day. The ad says that Romney’s success as a new president hinges on a GOP-controlled Senate. “You don’t have to agree with everything he says,’’ the ad says of Akin. “But you can be sure, in the Senate, Akin will vote for Romney’s policies.”
The ad appears aimed at moderate voters, particularly women, who may have defected from Akin's camp amid the uproar over his televised Aug. 19 comment in which the congressman contended that women who are victims of “legitimate rape’’ rarely get pregnant because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
Romney has been among the Republicans who wanted Akin to step down amid the furor. Missouri Republicans have been concerned about likely GOP voters who might vote for Romney and McCaskill.
That message differed a bit from what former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said of Akin, as he campaigned with the congressman Wednesday in Kansas City.
"There is no other race in the country that will send a bigger signal to the monied Republican establishment that it is votes that matter and citizens that matter," Gingrich said, according to press accounts. "When people of a state make a choice, they deserve to be respected for their right to choose the candidate they want, not the candidate Washington dictates."
One of McCaskill’s newer ads features footage of Akin making his "legitimate rape" comments. But her emphasis Wednesday was on his other views. “It’s not what he says that’s the problem,’’ she said. “It’s what he believes.”
McCaskill predicts strong Democratic turnout
Retired teacher Jane Brengle led off several former teachers who emphasized the importance of the school lunch program. “A hungry child cannot learn,” Brengle said. “A hungry child is worried about his stomach growling and that the other children can hear it and make fun of them. It’s absolutely imperative that reduced and free school-lunch program remain.”
McCaskill sought to counter Akin’s assertions earlier this week, during a campaign stop with U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., that she opposed coal as a fuel source and backed the EPA’s efforts to restrict carbon emissions, considered health-threatening pollutants.
McCaskill said she support coal’s use, but also emphasized that she believed in the purpose of the Environmental Protection Agency, even if she opposed some of its actions. Because of the EPA, she said, American mothers are assured that “when their children drink the water, they don't have to worry about them dying. That's not true in every country in the world."
Regarding Democratic turnout at the polls, McCaskill said she has a massive operation in place that includes 30 offices around the state. When asked, she indicated she wasn’t concerned that a Romney victory in Missouri would hurt other Democrats on the ticket.
“I’m not worried at all,’’ McCaskill said. “Republicans are promoting this narrative everywhere they can. … We’re ready and I believe the turnout will be terrific.”
In 1984 – the last year when a presidential candidate, Ronald Reagan, carried Missouri by double digits – McCaskill noted that the state’s voters also elected conservative Republican John Ashcroft as governor and progressive Democrat Harriett Woods as lieutenant governor.
The senator added with a smile, “I’m one who always appreciates the independent and stubborn nature of Missouri voters.”
McCaskill displayed some emotion as she talked about her mother, who died Monday at age 84. Betty Anne McCaskill often accompanied her daughter on the campaign trail.
“Even in her last days, she was pushing and urging me to do the kind of campaigning that she loved,’’ McCaskill said. “I will go forward with a spring in my step, missing her terribly.”
