• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, August 21, 2012

Rep. Todd Akin released a new TV ad today apologizing for his comments over the weekend in which he used the term “legitimate rape,” and suggested that the female body has internal mechanisms that enable it to terminate a pregnancy caused by rape.

Akin, a Republican from Missouri, is running for a Senate seat in the fall elections. However, his comments, considered woefully ignorant by much of the nation, caused such a huge backlash that the Republican Party yanked funding for his Senate bid.

Despite pressure to step out of the Senate race -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he “could not defend” either Akin or his comments -- Akin has so far resisted an exit. Instead, he issued the new ad in the hope that it would help him get past his huge gaffe.

“Rape is an evil act,” Akin says in the ad. “I used the wrong words in the wrong way and for that I apologize.”  He also asked for voter “forgiveness.”

Various news reports have indicated that Republicans continue to believe Akin is a lost cause. They fear he can’t win and could jeopardize a Republican majority in the Senate next term if he continues in the race.

CBS News reported that Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan talked to Akin and is believed to have urged him to leave the Senate race.  

As to why Akin may be resisting, despite huge pressure from his own party to relent, CBS reported one unidentified political source as surmising: “It’s hard to reason with an idiot.”

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