'I don’t know exactly what his accusation that I’m not ladylike means,' McCaskill says of Akin. | AP Photos McCaskill: 'At a loss' to explain Akin

Claire McCaskill said Friday that her GOP opponent makes Michele Bachmann “look like a hippie,” one day after Rep. Todd Akin said the Missouri senator’s behavior was more “ladylike” during her first run for the Senate.

“This is somebody who kind of makes Michele Bachmann look like a hippie,” McCaskill said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “He is very much in a group of people that would never be part of the compromise that we need to find to address the fiscal cliff. He would never be part of the group in the middle that actually thinks out ways to solve these problems.”


Akin, a six-term member of Congress, said McCaskill had more “confidence and was much more ladylike” in 2006 but thought “she came out swinging” in the pair’s debate last week because “she feels threatened.”

“I’m at a loss,” McCaskill said. “I don’t know exactly what his accusation that I’m not ladylike means. I’m a former courtroom prosecutor, and I try to be strong and informed. I think the debate was tough for Todd because I went through the list of his very, very extreme positions.”

Republicans tried to force Akin out of the race last month, after he falsely claimed women’s bodies have ways to prevent pregnancies in the case of “legitimate rape.” However, Akin has hung on, and national Republicans are now reluctantly backing him.