On this, the final day for Rep. Todd Akin to get himself off Missouri's ballot as a Senate candidate, the man himself held yet another press conference to announce that he was by God ( literally, in his view, by God ) not dropping out despite the Republican Party's ardent wish that he do so. Also he wanted to talk about a bus tour he's doing, which absolutely no one cares about except insofar as it's a sign he's not dropping out.

Friday, Akin found like five or six women to stand with him. But the process of assembling a crowd to serve as a backdrop for this event didn't go so smoothly.





@mmcauliff via web Guy organizing crowd to stand behind Akin apparently realizes it's all men. Asks, wanna get your wives up here? anyone can stand for Akin.



@daveweigel via TweetDeck They needed a woman to get behind Akin in the live shot, so they found... Phyllis Schlafly.

It's practically a requirement for Schlafly that she won't stand with any candidate other women are supporting, though. Also, supporting candidates like Akin is a good way for her to get some attention and remind people that she's still alive.

So that's it: Todd Akin is the Republican Party's candidate for Senate in Missouri. And of course that means that, having failed to shut that whole candidacy down, Republican groups will spend money on the race as they swore they wouldn't do back when they were trying to get him off the ballot.