We all knew this was coming. Never mind Republicans with their threats that none of them were going to support "legitimate rape" Senate candidate Todd Akin. Now that he's stuck to his guns and decided to stay in the race, they're starting to line up behind him anyway.

Sen. Blunt: Missouri Senate Race Will Be About Party Control:

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) said that Todd Akin, whose Senate bid he is now backing, can defeat incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill in November during an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday. Blunt said that rather than have a race about the candidate, Akin can win even after his "legitimate rape" comments because the race will be about which party controls the Senate.

Sadly he's right when it comes to just how important control of the Congress is and what direction this country is going to be headed, but of course just prior to these remarks, Blunt had the gall to blame the gridlock in the Senate on the Democrats. Blunt needs to go take a look in the mirror if he wants a look at who is responsible for being more worried about blocking a president's agenda for political purposes than the good of the people he's supposed to be representing or the economy improving.

Transcript via CNN below the fold:

CROWLEY: Let me ask you about the state of the race in Missouri. This is where you had Congressman Akin, who made a very controversial remark, which you condemned, which others condemned. You, in fact, said at the time, "We do not believe it serves the national interests for Congressman Todd Akin to stay in the race for Senate. The issues at stake are too big, and this election is simply too important. The right decision is to step aside."

As we all know, Todd Akin did not step aside. He is running as the Republican. And you are looking as though -- the Republicans are looking as though they're going to lose that race because Akin stayed in it.

BLUNT: I think at the end of the day, that race does largely become a debate about the majority in the Senate. Harry Reid is majority leader. What happens there? I think that becomes really big in that race. Frankly, I think that anybody else would have been a candidate that clearly would have won, and Todd very well may win. He is on a ticket at a time when people are looking at a Senate that's not doing its work, and the only way to change the Senate is to change the majority in the Senate.

CROWLEY: So you are going to sell it as a party race as opposed to the individual of Congressman Akin?

BLUNT: I think it becomes a party race in our state and lots of other places as well, as people look at these Senate races. And I'm not -- I think they look at them to a great extent independently of whatever has happened in the presidential race, but I think the presidential race is going to be decided by the economy, and the economy is not where people want it to be.

O'MALLEY: We have a great candidate in Missouri named Jay Nixon. Jay Nixon is going to be re-elected because he focuses on jobs and dealing with jobs--

CROWLEY: You are already holding that seat, though. It's the ones you might lose that are worrisome. Right?

O'MALLEY: That's right. And Akin is going to lose because of a demonstrated anti-woman policy that they have in the Republican Party, where one month Senator Blunt says he is not going to endorse Akin, then the next month he says he is going to endorse him, even after--

(CROSSTALK)

BLUNT: What I said was that the national issues are big enough that we need to have a discussion of those issues, rather than the ones that Todd managed to bring to the table.

CROWLEY: Which hopefully will be more favorable than the ones that he has brought up.

(CROSSTALK)

BLUNT: It's a race about the majority, and let's see how Todd does.