The NRSC sent $760,000 to the Missouri GOP on Nov. 1-2. NRSC spent big late in Missouri

The National Republican Senatorial Committee quietly sent $760,000 to the Missouri Republican Party in early November, just as the state GOP was mounting a last-minute TV ad blitz to boost Rep. Todd Akin’s sagging Senate campaign, according to records released Thursday.

The NRSC funds appear to have helped pay for the pro-Akin TV ads as he was struggling to narrow Sen. Claire McCaskill’s lead at the polls. The disclosure is highly significant because the Senate GOP campaign committee promised to abandon Akin after failing to push the conservative congressman out of the race following his August declaration that “legitimate rape” rarely leads to pregnancies because female bodies often shut down.


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The NRSC declined to comment Thursday night.

When asked in September if the committee would consider reversing course and backing Akin, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the NRSC chairman, flatly told POLITICO, “We’re done.” Akin was thus left without potentially millions of dollars in financial support he would have received from the NRSC in his challenge to McCaskill.

But as November began, Senate Republicans were facing a crisis. The once-bright 2012 landscape had shifted on them. Instead of winning a Senate majority, they were fighting to keep seats. McCaskill, once seen as the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent, was leading Akin by a solid margin in the polls.

As the Missouri Senate race dragged on and Akin made up some ground in the contest, the NRSC was in a quandary: Does it stick to its word and hope Akin could rebound on his own? Or should it flip-flop and send an infusion of cash into the race in a last-ditch bid to save his campaign?

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Now it appears to have been the latter, certain to give fodder to Democrats eager to hit Senate Republicans on hypocrisy charges.

“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, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

The NRSC sent $760,000 to the Missouri GOP on Nov. 1-2, according to post-election filings by the state party. The Missouri GOP, along with Akin’s campaign, dumped those funds into a large TV buy seeking to boost his campaign.

As word broke about the Missouri GOP’s late investment into the McCaskill-Akin race, the NRSC adamantly refused to say whether it was involved at all.

And even after Election Day, top Republicans declined to comment, telling reporters to wait until campaign filings were released a month later.

Asked about the matter in a post-election interview, Cornyn would not say if the NRSC quietly got involved in Missouri, but hinted that it did.

“We needed to do what we needed to do to help win Senate seats,” Cornyn told POLITICO.

But the late TV ad blitz or reversal by the NRSC appeared to make little difference anyway, as McCaskill cruised to a 15-point win on Nov. 6. Akin will leave Capitol Hill at the end of the 112th Congress.

And Cornyn, despite the poor showing by Senate Republicans — they ended up losing two seats, a huge win day for Democrats — was elected minority whip.