None of them became law. Of the 52 measures Akin has introduced during his career, just three have been signed by the president. They all renamed post offices in Missouri for service members who died in Iraq.
But if Akin has carved out only a small legacy on the Hill, he has made loyal allies among conservative legislators and Christian groups. Now — after he has been rejected by most of the GOP establishment — these are the friends he has left.
“I definitely believe that he should still be a member of Congress,” said Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), who has worked with Akin in fights against abortion. “If everyone truly understood this man, and knew this man like I do . . . they would be honored to have him as a congressman.”
Here in Akin’s St. Louis area district, where the congressman is known for dressing up in Revolutionary War costume, he has other defenders.
Don Hinkle, editor of the newspaper serving the Missouri Baptist Convention, said he was “grieved over” Akin’s controversial remarks, stressing that he was speaking only for himself. “But I’ve known Todd. I know his character and the man that he is. And I know that his words didn’t match his heart.”
The national GOP’s leadership has turned on Akin, now a candidate for Senate, after a local TV interview broadcast Sunday. Akin was asked to defend his opposition to abortion, even in cases in which the pregnancy began with a rape.
“From what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Akin said. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
Scientists say he was wrong. Akin has since apologized for what he called “ill-conceived” remarks. But a chorus of Republicans is still calling for him to drop out.
On Wednesday, the latest was vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan.
Akin’s answer was still no.
“The people of Missouri chose me to be their candidate, and I don’t believe it’s right for party bosses to decide to override those voters,” Akin said on NBC’s “Today” show.
It was a response in character for a stubborn man few people know.
Akin, 65, is an engineer and National Guard veteran whose father was chief executive of the now-defunct Laclede Steel Co. Along with his wife, Lulli, he home-schooled six children in the St. Louis exurb of Town and Country.
In 1984, after a career in business, Akin got a divinity degree at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, part of the conservative Presbyterian Church in America. There, Akin studied Greek and Hebrew and a reading of the Scriptures that is socially conservative and staunchly antiabortion.
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