Top Republican strategist Karl Rove apologized to Missouri representative and Senate candidate Todd Akin after making an off-color remark that Akin might be “found mysteriously murdered,” if he did not quit the Republican race for Missouri Senate after claiming women have the ability, when “legitimately” raped, to spontaneously prevent pregnancy.
Akin drew widespread condemnation and calls to drop out of the Senate race after suggesting it was rare for women to get pregnant from what he termed “legitimate” rape. Last week, a reporter from Bloomberg Businessweek who attended an exclusive briefing with Rove on the final day of the Republican National Convention quoted the influential strategist saying, “We should sink Todd Akin. If he’s found mysteriously murdered, don’t look for my whereabouts!” During the elite fundraiser, Rove also laid out his strategy for winning the 2012 presidential election, at one point saying the people the Republicans needed to win over had previously voted for Barack Obama.