Dems keep control of Senate after Republicans’ gaffes

By RYAN SIT

Democrats edged out Republicans Tuesday in critical matchups in tossup states to retain party control in the U.S. Senate.

Democrats took over 20 of the 33 open seats.  Republicans appeared to have won in only six contests:  Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, and Nebraska.

Comments about rape and abortion by Republican candidates may have cost them senate seats in two crucial tossup states, Indiana and Missouri, where they were initially expected to win easily.

In Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy outmuscled the World Wrestling Entertainment multi-millionaire executive turned Republican candidate Linda McMahon for the seat.  Murphy will replace independent Sen. Joe Lieberman who announced his retirement in January 2011.

Political observers reported that McMahon, who spent some $50 million of her own money in her 2010 senate race, spent at least that much in this contest.

Maine, a tossup state, went to former Gov. Angus King by a commanding margin over Republican candidate Charles Summers and democratic candidate Cynthia Dill.  King, an independent, is expected to caucus with Democrats.

Elizabeth Warren took Massachusetts, also a tossup state, over Republican Scott Brown for the seat once held by Sen. Ted Kennedy. Brown’s re-election to the senate was considered critical to Republican Party’s control.

Of the 33 open seats, there appeared to be 18 critical states to watch, eight of which were tossups and seven leaning Democratic. Thirty-seven seats carry over under Republican control, while only thirty remain Democratic.

Missouri Congressman Todd Akin’s now infamous “legitimate rape” comment may have cost him the seat, which ultimately went to Democratic incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill.  Akin, backed by the Tea Party, lead McCaskill 49 percent to 45 percent, according to a poll conducted by the Citizens United Victory Fund by Wenzel Strategies, but his comment was followed by a steep decline in popularity.

McCaskill won 53 percent to 41 percent.

In a television interview Akin was asked whether abortion was justified in cases of rape.  His statement drew widespread outrage, convinced Mitt Romney to withdraw his support and lost funding from the conservative “super PAC,” American Crossroads.

“It seems to be, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, it’s really rare,” he said of pregnancies resulting from rape.

“If it’s legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down”

Indiana senate candidate Richard Mourdock joined the controversy when he said, “I think, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that is something that God intended to happen.”

Before the comment Mourdock was expected easily to win. But after, voters said they were 40 percent less likely to vote for Mourdock, according to the Howey-DePauw poll.

Rep. Joe Donnelly, a Democrat, won the Indiana seat by a margin of 50 percent to 44 percent.

Photo: Todd Akin.