Rep. Todd Akin defied the nation’s top Republicans Tuesday and forged ahead with his besieged Senate bid, declaring the party was overreacting to his comments that women’s bodies can prevent pregnancies in cases of “legitimate rape” and by insisting he abandon his campaign.

Todd Akin returns to St. Louis
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Akin pledged to carry on with his quest to unseat Democrat Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri. But his bid faced tall obstacles: a lack of money, a lack of party support and no assurance that his apologies would be enough to heal a self-inflicted political wound.

“I misspoke one word in one sentence on one day, and all of a sudden, overnight, everybody decides, ‘Well, Akin can’t possibly win,’” he said on a national radio show hosted by former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. “Well, I don’t agree with that.”

Akin predicted he would bounce back from the political crisis threatening his campaign, including a call from presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney to leave the race, and capture a seat that is pivotal to Republican hopes of regaining control of the Senate.

“I’m in this race for the long haul, and we’re going to win it,” he told radio host Dana Loesch in St. Louis.


(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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