Defiant Akin Still In Senate Race
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Suzanne, thank you. I'm Brooke Baldwin. And on the very day Republicans reveal part of next week's convention platform, a constitutional amendment to ban abortion nationwide, a fire storm involving one of their own just got a little hotter. I'm talking about Missouri Congressman Todd Akin. He says he used the wrong words and has asked Missouri voters for their forgiveness, but, he says, he is not, I repeat not getting out of this Missouri Senate race. Akin said over the weekend that victims of what he called legitimate rape rarely get pregnant and he has spent the last couple of days trying to explain exactly what he meant by that. We have seen major developments in this story really in the last 30 minutes or so. That's why I want to bring in Dana Bash. We know, Dana, he's been on multiple radio shows. In the last couple of minutes, he says he's in. Why?</s>DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's let him explain it for himself. I should note that he did this in one of the few friendly forums left for him, and that is Mike Huckabee's radio show. Listen to him explain why he says he's staying in.</s>REP. TODD AKIN (R), MISSOURI SENATE CANDIDATE (voice-over): Because we are going to continue with this race for the U.S. Senate. We've given it a lot of thought. And the first thing we felt we had to do was we had offended some people and we tried to respond to that and let people know that we didn't mean anything or to take in any way rape anything less than very, very seriously.</s>BASH: So that's him explaining why. And there was another comment that he made that struck us all about the way he believes that his party, again many in his party, not just the leadership, but several Tea Party groups and conservative radio hosts and columnists, the way that they have reacted or, in his words, overreacted to the comments he made about rape. Listen to this.</s>AKIN: It does seem just misspoke one word in one sentence on one day. I hasn't done anything that was morally or ethically wrong, as sometimes people in politics do. We do a lot of talking and to get a word in the wrong place, you know, that's not a good thing to do or to hurt anybody that way. But it does seem like a little bit of an overreaction.</s>BASH: Now, as you can imagine, Republican Party leaders are not happy at all, Brooke. Just as we were coming on this show, I got an e- mail from the spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. This is the arm of the Republican Party in charge of electing Senate Republicans. And I'll just read you some of the quotes. Brian Walsh saying, "by staying in this race, Congressman Akin is putting at great risk many of the issues that he and others in the Republican Party are fighting for, including the repeal of Obamacare." And goes on to say that they "continue to hope that Congressman Akin will do the right thing for the values he holds dear." Effectively saying they still hope that he will, at some point, step down. But he made very clear today that's not happening by the deadline, which is 6:00 Eastern, for him to do so voluntarily without a lot of procedural and financial hurdles.</s>BALDWIN: Yes, so you point out, members of the national party, they're not necessarily supporting him. A big chunk of change he is now no longer getting. People in his own state are not supporting him. Dana Bash, just, quite frankly, is he being stubborn at this point?</s>BASH: You know, that's definitely the way most of the Republican Party thinks he is being. They think he's being very stubborn. From his point of view, he believes that he is doing what is his constitutional right and what is his calling. This is something that he believes that -- let me just take a step back and explain to you, maybe give a little bit of color as to the kind of candidate he is.</s>BALDWIN: Sure.</s>BASH: He is not the person that the Republican leadership wanted to be the nominee to run against Claire McCaskill in the first place. He was probably their last choice. In fact, I was told point-blank he was. He knew that and he stayed in the race and he won the Republican primary to challenge Claire McCaskill. So he made that point today. He was told before he couldn't win. He did win. He beat somebody with a lot of money. And he says he's going to continue to do that. He made the point also in that radio show today that some of the grass roots supporters that we're not hearing from are contacting him, contacting his campaign, giving them money. So, you know, he's basically in this and he is -- maybe stubborn is a good word for the way he's reacting to the pressure from Republican Party leaders.</s>BALDWIN: Just a question. Just wondering. Dana Bash, appreciate all your reporting on it. Thank you so much, from Washington for us. And now to something -- this is fascinating, OK. This is one of the starkest contrasts possible between the president on one side and his opponents on the other. We caught this earlier this afternoon. So listen if you would. First, President Obama. Then Congressman Paul Ryan. Each critiquing the other side's vision of how to achieve success. We're going to roll it. First the president speaking in Columbus, Ohio.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, a few months ago just up the road in Westerville, Governor Romney said, if you want to be successful, if you want to go to college or start a business, you can just, and I'm quoting here, "borrow money if you have to from your parents." One high school student in Youngstown asked him what he would do to make college more affordable for families like his. Governor Romney didn't say anything about grants or loan programs that are critical to millions of students to get a college education. He said nothing about work study programs or rising college tuition. He didn't say a word about community colleges or how important higher education is to America's future. He said the best thing you can do is shop around. The best -- the best thing I can do for you is to tell you to shop around.</s>PAUL RYAN, (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Even if Washington could be good at picking winners and losers, which they're not, they shouldn't be in the business of picking winners and losers. That's not the role of government. You see, it invites cronyism. It's corporate welfare. It's crony capitalism. It's basically big government and big business joining in a common cause to rig the rules, stack the deck and keep the small business person and the entrepreneur on the outside looking in.</s>BALDWIN: And that was Congressman Paul Ryan speaking today. We also heard from the president, who spoke within the past hour. Both on achieving success in today's America. As we said, two starkly competing visions there. And a quick reminder to all of you. This time next week, I will be anchoring this show live from Tampa, where Republicans will be holding their national convention. Join us. Our whole CNN crew down there. That kicks off August 27th. I will see you then. Meantime, a lot more happening here on this Tuesday. Take a look at this. Dozens more shot in Chicago as the crisis there grows and CNN rides along with police on a night when the calls don't stop. I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now. The fists come out between neighborhoods. CNN gets up close proof the violence in Syria is spilling over into Lebanon. And a mother loses her daughter to a parasailing accident. Now she's fighting for a crackdown against an industry with no rules.