100Feed: McCaskill gets her opponent, Akin wins

By DAVID CATANESE and ALEX ISENSTADT

Claire McCaskill got her wish after all.

Rep. Todd Akin — a six-term social conservative whom the vulnerable Democratic senator helped promote to GOP voters because she thought she had the best chance of beating him — won the Republican primary Tuesday night over two rivals.

With more four-fifths of precincts reporting, Akin was leading businessman John Brunner, 36 percent to 30 percent, and the Associated Press called the race. Former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman, who was backed by Sarah Palin, was at 29 percent.

In other key races on the ballot, Rep. Lacy Clay beat fellow Rep. Russ Carnahan in a clash of Democratic Missouri political dynasties. In Michigan, longtime Democratic Rep. John Conyers won reelection handily, while Rep. Gary Peters was easily outpacing Rep. Hansen Clarke in another member vs. member contest. And in a result that was widely expected, Rep. Fred Upton, the head of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, swatted away a tea party challenge.

But the headliner event was the Missouri GOP primary. McCaskill signaled she’d rather run against Akin when her campaign launched a heavily rotated spot in July that branded him the “true conservative” — a blatant appeal to devoted conservatives who decide GOP primary contests.

Running his first race, Brunner, who spent $8 million of his own money on his bid, campaigned on being a “citizen senator” who brought to the table real-world business experience and lacking political baggage. Steelman positioned herself as an outstate maverick who would be a thorn in the side of the establishment.

Akin was powered by his ties to the vote-rich region of St. Louis, his connection with deeply religious voters and the tone of his campaign.

In the final weeks of the campaign, Brunner and Steelman lobbed barbs at each other on the air, but Akin declined to join the fray and stayed positive.

Akin’s advertising campaign — mocked by some in the Beltway as hokey — resonated with Evangelical and conservative activists who dominate the primary electorate.

Even so, there’s widespread agreement on both sides of the aisle that Akin presented the weakest threat to McCaskill and his nomination could provide her a window of opportunity to save a seat the GOP needs to flip Senate control in November. Assuming President Barack Obama is reelected, Republicans must pick up four seats to attain the majority.

Akin’s 12-year voting record is more susceptible to attack and his deeply held conservative beliefs have prompted him to make statements that Democrats believe are outside the mainstream for most Missourians.

Nonetheless, McCaskill enters the final 90-days an underdog.

Most polls have shown her trailing all three of her rivals and she acknowledged to POLITICO last weekend her reelection number sits in the low-to-mid 40s.

A campaign against Akin would undoubtedly center on his support of earmarks, the controversial spending provisions that McCaskill and many Republicans have sworn off. It would also seek to highlight him as a tea party candidate with ties to the most extreme realms of the Republican Party.

“Just a reminder folks, Todd Akin compared student loans to stage III cancer,” tweeted Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Matt Canter shortly after the Associated Press called the race for Akin.

In the only other Senate GOP primary Tuesday night, former Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra quashed home school advocate Clark Durant by double-digits.

100Feed Special Report: Jon Huntsman Slams GOP by Samantha R. Selman

Jon Huntsman leveled harsh criticism at his party on Sunday evening, BuzzFeed’s Zeke Miller reported, comparing the Republican Party to communist China and questioning the strength of this year’s presidential field.

During an event at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Huntsman spoke candidly about his party’s flaws, lamenting the Republican National Committee’s decision to rescind an invitation to a major fundraising event after Huntsman called for a third-party candidate to enter the race.
“This is what they do in China on party matters if you talk off script,” Huntsman said.
Huntsman, a former Utah governor who dropped out of the GOP primary in January, served as U.S. ambassador to China under President Barack Obama.

He also criticized the Republican candidates’ foreign policy stances, particularly in regard to China.
“I don’t know what world these people are living in,” Huntsman said.
Although Huntsman did not mention any specific candidates, he has criticized Mitt Romney in the past for his “wrong-headed” approach. Huntsman, who endorsed Romney after dropping out of the race, said in February that the former Massachusetts governor should take a more opportunity-minded view to relations with China.

Huntsman also spoke on Sunday about his presidential candidacy, revealing that he was less than impressed by his fellow candidates when he attended his first debate in August.
“Is this the best we could do?” Huntsman said he asked himself.
He also joked that his wife forbade him to pander to the party’s far-right contingent ahead of Iowa’s caucuses, which likely hurt him with conservative voters in the Hawkeye State.
“She said if you pandered, if you sign any of those damn pledges, I’ll leave you,”Huntsman said, “So I had to say I believe in science — and people on stage look at you quizzically as though you’re … an oddball.”

Huntsman, however, did not actively campaign in Iowa, telling CBS News in December that “they pick corn,” not presidents, in that early caucus state.

Since dropping out of the race, Huntsman has remained critical of his former opponents and has remained lukewarm in his backing of Romney.
“Gone are the days when the Republican Party used to put forward big, bold, visionary stuff,” Huntsman said during the February interview with MSNBC that got him disinvited from the RNC fundraiser. “I think we’re going to have problems politically until we get some sort of third-party movement or some alternative voice out there that can put forward new ideas.”

And unlike others in his party who have endorsed Romney, Huntsman has refrained from appearing at campaign events on behalf of his party’s likely nominee. According to his daughter, Abby Livingston, he won’t be joining Romney on the trail anytime soon.
“My dad is not a surrogate for Romney and will not be out stumping for him in the general,” she told ABC News earlier this month. “He is enjoying private life.”