Claire McCaskill isn't a shoe-in for re-election to the Senate, despite Todd Akin's crude remarks about women. She continues to work hard in the hard scrabble town across southern Missouri who would "rather vote for a goat" than return her to her Senate seat. Goat quote comes from Kevin McDermott's excellent work this morning:
http://www.stltoday.com/...
From Kevin McDermott in the St. Louis Post Dispatch:
ST. LOUIS • Congressman Todd Akin has dramatically narrowed the lead of Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri’s nationally watched Senate race, according to a new poll.
But the poll — commissioned by the Post-Dispatch, News 4 and the Kansas City Star — also indicates that Akin’s “legitimate rape” comment in August continues to affect the race. McCaskill still enjoys a significant gender gap, and three-quarters of her supporters call Akin’s comment “somewhat” or “very” important to their decision.
The results show McCaskill leading with 45 percentage points to Akin’s 43 points among likely voters. That’s within the poll’s 4-point margin for error, indicating a closer race than two earlier independent polls that showed McCaskill with wider leads.