Akin Suggests McCaskill Unladylike After Debate

Rep. Todd Akin has made another gaffe in his bid to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill in November.

Akin announced on Monday that he was staying the race, despite weeks of negative coverage and the rejection of the National Republican party following his comments on Fox 2 regarding legitimate rape. On Thursday, in an interview with the Kansas City Star, Akin referred to his opponent as unladylike in her debate with him last week. 

According to the story, Akin said:

"I think we have a very clear path to victory, and apparently Claire McCaskill thinks we do, too, because she was very aggressive at the debate, which was quite different than it was when she ran against Jim Talent,” Akin told the paper. “She had a confidence and was much more ladylike (in 2006), but in the debate on Friday she came out swinging, and I think that’s because she feels threatened."

The National Republican Senatorial Committee told Talking Points Memo that it declined to comment on the issue. Earlier this week, the group sent an email to supporters asking if it should support Akin and if it did, would they financially support him as well.

Editor's Note: A previous version of this story used the term "unladylike" in quotation marks in the headline and the description field. As the story itself states, Representative Akin drew contrasts between Senator McCaskill's 2006 campaign and 2012 when he said she was "much more ladylike (in 2006)." The implication is that the Akin campaign is suggesting his opponent was unladylike in their Friday debate, although that word was not used in a direct quote.

Patch apologizes for any confusion brought by the initial headline.