It turns out that political Siberia, in the Republican party, isn't so far away after all – and you don't have to stay there all that long. It's more a sort of political Canada.

One month after banning Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin from their national convention, Republican leaders are welcoming him back into the fold, his trespasses forgiven, if awkwardly unforgotten. Led by RNC chair Reince Priebus, whose stoical about-face on the issue has been worthy of the royal guard, members of the GOP top brass are gradually stepping forward, one by one, to say that the interests of the nation are now such that it is important to elect Todd Akin to the Senate, all the bad and rather unfortunate things that were said about the man last month notwithstanding.

At the time, Republicans were deeply offended at their candidate's "insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong" – in the words of Mitt Romney – statement that "legitimate rape" does not entail a procreation risk because "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." At the time, the list of elected GOP officials, strategists and pundits condemning Akin was worthy of the government printing office. At the time, what Akin said plainly made his thinking so unsuitable for the public sphere that basic decency – all talk of politics aside – mandated that he withdraw his candidacy.

Akin lost the support of the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Karl Rove's Super Pac. The leaders of those organizations went on TV to talk about how many millions of dollars they were withdrawing from the Missouri Senate race.

But now, with Akin having ignored the drop-dead dropout deadline on Tuesday, with various pollsters seeing improving chances for the Democrats to hold control of the Senate and with the Missouri race still apparently in play, the indignation over Akin's paleolithic gender politics is subsiding.

Instead, Republicans are now taking the advice of that wise old head Newt Gingrich, who never appeared to be so troubled by Akin's comments in the first place, who never called on him to step down and who is campaigning with him.

"For the first 48 hours, fine," Gingrich said Monday of intra-party attacks on Akin. "Now, it's stupid."

Without further ado, a first-pass list of the key players, what they said then, and what they say now:

Reince Priebus, chairman, Republican national committee

Then

"You're not always the person that has to be the guy. I just think that the people who want to do something special are always better than the people who want to be something special … He could be tied [in the polls]. We're not going to send him a penny."

Now

For a story published Friday, Scott Conroy of CBS News asked Priebus if he considered Akin to be a better option for Missouri voters than McCaskill. "Well, absolutely," Priebus said. "That's a given, and as chairman of the party, I have an obligation to make sure we win as many seats in the Senate as possible."

Missouri senator Roy Blunt

Then

Blunt played a central behind-the-scenes role – joined by former Missouri senators Kit Bond, John Danforth, Jim Talent and John Ashcroft – in trying to push Akin out of the race.

"I don't think we're at a final decision point yet," Blunt told the St. Louis Beacon in late August. "I hope he continues to look at this … The national interest is not well served by Todd staying in the race."

Now

"Congressman Akin and I don't agree on everything, but he and I agree the Senate majority must change," Blunt said in a statement. "From Governor Romney to the county courthouse, I'll be working for the Republican ticket in Missouri, and that includes Todd Akin."

National Republican senatorial committee

Then

Chairman senator John Cornyn, Texas: "Congressman Akin's statements were wrong, offensive, and indefensible. I recognize that this is a difficult time for him, but over the next twenty-four hours, Congressman Akin should carefully consider what is best for him, his family, the Republican Party, and the values that he cares about and has fought for throughout his career in public service."

Now

Executive director Rob Jesmer: "As with every Republican Senate candidate, we hope Todd Akin wins in November and we will continue to monitor this race closely in the days ahead."

Former Missouri Governor and four-term senator Kit Bond

Then

"He is going to take down not only Republicans but also anybody who supports right-to-life," Bond told the St Louis Post-Dispatch. "He is going to be featured at the Democratic convention next week … It's tragically unfortunate."

Now

Bond announced Friday that he is throwing his support behind Todd Akin for Senate, as first reported by CBS' Scott Conroy.

Karl Rove

Then

"If he remains on the ballot, you're right, Crossroads GPS and Crossroads will not spend any money on the race," Rove told Fox News in an interview on 21 August. "After those damaging statements … These were reprehensible and deplorable comments, and there's no way he can recover in my opinion. And so our group decided, if he remains the nominee, there's no reason to throw good money after bad by trying to win this seat."

Rove hasn't publicly sought to rehabilitate Akin. In fact, a Crossroads GPS spokesman told Talking Points Memo Wednesday that "nothing has changed" about the organization's plans to stay away from the Akin candidacy. "Focus groups found that women were identifying the Republican party with Akin's comments on rape and that it was dragging down the whole ticket," Rove told the National Review's John Fund for a story published Wednesday. It looks like Rove is sticking to his guns – on the opposite side from Gingrich (and Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Jim DeMint and others who never ditched Akin in the first place).

But the outstanding question is the position of the GOP's standard bearer:

Mitt Romney

Then

"Congressman's Akin comments on rape are insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong. Like millions of other Americans, we found them to be offensive."

Now

Silence, so far.