Todd Akin Might Still Win This Thing

It's been about a month since Rep. Todd Akin went on television and accidentally said in public stuff that Republicans usually only say in private. But Sen. Claire McCaskill still only remains a few points ahead of Akin in polls, and now Republican money seems to be flowing back into Akin's campaign coffers.

So, what exactly does this mean?

But a month after his comments set the political world on fire, there’s a different feeling on the ground here among operatives, voters, activists and officials in both parties: Akin can still win.

Akin's strategy rests on a big push to turn out the base in areas like conservative southwestern Missouri while stemming losses in Democratic-friendly bastions, such as the St. Louis region — all the while waging a pressure campaign on Republicans in Washington to send national money into a tightly contested race.

The exact details of Akin's plan are a little complicated, but it can be easily simplified down to this: An Akin loss, under the current circumstances, would not be considered "legitimate" in the eyes of Republicans. But the GOP has ways to shut all that Claire McCaskill-winning stuff down.

It's scientific.

Photo by Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call Group/Getty Images

Tags: Claire McCaskill, Missouri, Senate, Todd Akin