If they do it, this will be a very shrewd move by the GOP:
This morning on ABC News, however, Mary Matalin — a well-connected GOP operative — suggested that Republicans would run a write-in candidate to defeat Akin. Matlin said that, if necessary, Republicans would “transfer the money” to Ann Wagner — a former chairwoman of the Missouri GOP who is currently running for Congress — to run as a 3rd party or write-in candidate.
It’s really the only thing they CAN do, short of completely ceding the state to the the Democrats. The Senate seat is probably a lost cause already since Akin will retain enough support to split the vote, but this is really more about the Presidential race. If it stays a two-person race with Akin vs. a Democrat, Romney will be stuck without someone to get up on the podium with whenever he goes to Missouri, and stuck with impossible questions about who he’s endorsing for the Senate race.
A third party allows Romney and the GOP to cut the albatross that is Rep. Akin from their neck, and contain the damage.
I’M more interested about under what name Ann Wagner (the presumed 3rd candidate) will run under. I’m pulling for “Bull Moose.” It has a great GOP heritage, and would sound awesome if she got elected and we had to talk about the “Bull Moose” caucus of one in the Senate.
