Republicans gave $760K to Akin campaign despite disavowal

By Deirdre Shesgreen, Gannett Washington Bureau | USATODAY

WASHINGTON — After vowing not to spend any money on behalf of Todd Akin's U.S. Senate bid, national Republicans pumped $760,000 into the Show-Me State just a few days before voters went to the polls.

New campaign finance filings show that the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent $360,000 to the Missouri Republican Party's federal campaign committee on Nov. 1. And the NRSC — which is charged with electing GOP candidates to the Senate — sent another $400,000 on Nov. 2.

The state party reported paying almost exactly that amount — $756,000 — to Strategic Media Placement, an Ohio firm that Akin had used to buy his TV ad time, on Oct. 30 and Nov. 1. The state party's FEC report shows the funds were for "W. Todd Akin."

That cash infusion came despite a complete disavowal of Akin by top party leaders —including Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, and NRSC Chairman John Cornyn, of Texas.

"We have no plans" to devote any money to the Missouri race, Cornyn said in a September interview. "I just think that this is not a winnable race," he added.

Akin earned the ire of party leaders after he said that women who are victims of "legitimate rape" rarely get pregnant because their bodies have a way to prevent that from happening. He apologized for the comment but never recovered, losing the nationally watched race to Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.

At the very end of that contest, the Missouri Republican Party launched a major TV ad blitz on the teetering candidate's behalf. At the time, officials at the state party declined to say where they got the money to fund the nearly $700,000 blitz, and the NRSC similarly declined comment.

But the new filings show that the NRSC gave the state party enough to cover the tab. It's not clear if officials in Washington said how that money should be spent.

Democrats seized on the NRSC funding as evidence of GOP hypocrisy.

"It is not only wrong that the NRSC would provide funds to support a dangerous extremist like Todd Akin, it was underhanded and dishonest that they would purposely mislead the public about their actions," said Matt Canter, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

An NRSC spokesman did not immediately respond to an e-mail and voicemail requesting comment. And a spokesman for the Missouri GOP also did not respond to a voicemail on Thursday.