UPDATE (Friday August 24, 5:33 p.m. EDT): Rep. Todd Akin took five press questions. Nothing has changed, he is still in the race, and his family is still running his Senate campaign. That was fun, guys. Happy Friday.
On Friday afternoon, embattled Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) announced that he is holding a press conference at 5:15 p.m. EDT.
After stepping into some mess with his strange account of female reproduction, Akin missed the first deadline earlier this week to drop out of his Missouri Senate race against Democrat Claire McCaskill, and vowed to fight on—even after the GOP money machine choked off financial support to his campaign. At the moment, it appears as though this presser is designed to remind reporters of the candidate’s audacity:
BREAKING: Akin will be reiterating he’s STAYING IN the race at the presser, per source close to congressman.
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) August 24, 2012
In other news:
Akin has been under fire from scores of liberals and conservatives after he posited last weekend that female victims of “legitimate rape” are unlikely to become pregnant.
On Friday afternoon, shortly before his planned press conference, his campaign changed his Facebook banner to: “WE PROVED THE PARTY BOSSES WRONG“:
We will update this post after his planned statements, and as new information flows in.