Irony.
Who knows whether Akin will drop out. But "reports" by political operatives that he's dropping are really just efforts to dry up his $
— @JuddLegum via TweetDeck
That sounds about right. Everything coming from the Todd Akin campaign has been of the "we're in it for good, we're not quitters" variety. Yet Twitter has been flooded with supposed "insiders" claiming Akin will quit.
Someone who has made the decision to quit doesn't go around saying they're not going to quit. They'll play coy. They'll go radio silent. They'll talk about "reassessing," like Herman Cain once did:
The Herman Cain campaign is "reassessing" its strategy in the wake of a woman's claim that she and Cain had engaged in a 13-year extramarital relationship, a senior staffer to the campaign told CBS News and National Journal on condition of anonymity.
But Akin has now told two radio hosts that he's staying in.
Of course, that can all change as the reality of running a campaign without Karl Rove or Republican Party money sinks in. But as of now, it's clear his intent is to fight for the seat he's been campaigning for over the past year.
So all those reports of people saying he's out? It's all part of a coordinated campaign to kill his only avenue of potential financial support—individual donors. If he can announce that he's raised $1 million online over the day, then it gives him every justification to stay—one, he has money and can likely raise more off those donors, and two, he has an obligation to those donors to see this through.
But if everyone thinks he's quitting, no one will bother giving. And if he doesn't rack up those individual donors, Akin is deprived of both the financial and moral support he desperately needs right now.