Former House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich called the Missouri Senate race unique among other contests in the country.
Gingrich spoke on behalf of Republican Todd Akin and others in an appearance at Kansas City’s Union Station.
Flanked by his wife Calista, Gingich chided G.O.P. leaders for pulling support for Akin after his comments about what Akin termed “legitimate rape” started a political firestorm that still burns.
As Gingrich phrased it, “there’s no other race in the country that will send a bigger signal to the monied Republican establishment that it is votes that matter and citizens that matter. And when people of a state make a choice they deserve to be respected for their right to choose.”
Akin spoke of the sanctity of life and the importance of God in appreciating every day of life in the world.
As Akin and Gingrich talked to about a hundred, or fewer, people, scores of anti-Akin, pro-Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill supporters waved signs at the back of the crowd.
An Akin aide said the candidate will spent the remainder of the campaign in northern Missouri and finish in St. Louis.
