CREVE COEUR, Mo. — U.S. Rep. Todd Akin entered Missouri's Republican U.S. Senate primary on Tuesday, casting himself as a "consistent conservative" who is "the literal, exact opposite" of the Democratic incumbent, Claire McCaskill.
As justification for his Senate campaign, Akin highlighted his long opposition to some of the most ambitious government programs of the past decade, including the No Child Left Behind education law, an expansion of prescription drug benefits for Medicare recipients and a bank bailout law enacted under former Republican President George W. Bush. Akin also cited his votes against the economic stimulus act and new federal health care law enacted under Democratic President Barack Obama.
"I have been at least a consistent conservative, and have done that for a number of years," Akin said while announcing his candidacy in front of several dozen people at a hotel in the St. Louis suburb of Creve Coeur. "People might say, 'Well Akin, you're too conservative.' But in today's economic conditions, it may seem that what some thought was too conservative is probably just about the medicine that we need."
Akin, 63, is a married father of six who formerly was a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officer. He has worked in corporate management, served in the Missouri House and has represented a suburban St. Louis congressional district for the past 10 years. He joins former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman as the only Republicans officially in next year's Senate race. St. Louis businessman John Brunner, a past political and financial supporter of Akin's, also is considering a Senate campaign.
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http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700136122/GOP-Rep-Akin-to-challenge-Sen-McCaskill-in-Mo.htmlI hope he runs and loses, badly.
By doing so he'll likely lose his House seat to Rep. Carnahan, should he run, and lose to McCaskill in the general Senate election.
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