Akin gets mysterious influx of campaign money

In the final days of his campaign, Akin gets a big boost from outside donors

Published November 2, 2012 4:58PM (EDT)

Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo.                (Facebook/supportakin)
Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo. (Facebook/supportakin)

With just a few days left in the campaign, Todd Akin is pouring money into a series of ad buys in Missouri, with the help of a surge of cash from the Missouri Republican Party. But there is some speculation that a chunk of that money came from national Republicans, who previously backed away from supporting Akin after his "legitimate rape" comments.

The New York Times reports:

"Nearly a million of those dollars on television ad buys are coming from Mr. Akin’s campaign, while the rest is from outside groups, and there is speculation that organizations that previously distanced themselves from the six-term Congressman could be behind some of the new spending.

The Missouri Republican Party coordinated with the Akin campaign for a $387,000 ad buy, a spokesman for Mr. Akin said, while the campaign itself made a $300,000 purchase two days ago. The spokesman, Rick Tyler, said the Akin campaign planned to make another $600,000 ad buy on Thursday."

At the end of October, the state GOP had $375,000, indicating that it might have gotten some additional help from outside donors.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has repeatedly declined to comment about whether it's paying for the ads, though the RNC said it wasn't them.


By Jillian Rayfield

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com.

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2012 Elections Claire Mccaskill Missouri Nrsc Todd Akin