Firestorm After Candidate Makes Rape Remark

NewsBreakerOct 24 '12

Host @DavidBegnaud delivers breaking news and today's trending buzz in 45 seconds. By TOM LoBIANCO, Associated Press – 10-24-2012 NEW ALBANY, Ind. (AP) — Top Republicans were slow to embrace tea party-backed Indiana Senate candidate Richard after he ousted a longtime GOP senator from office. Though he eventually won their support — and money — Mourdock could see both fade after telling a live television audience that when a woman becomes pregnant during a rape, "that's something God intended." Mourdock, who's been locked in one of the country's most expensive and closely watched Senate races, was asked during the final minutes of a debate Tuesday night whether abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest. "I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize that life is that gift from God. And, I think, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen," Mourdock said. Mourdock became the second GOP Senate candidate to find himself on the defensive over comments about rape and pregnancy. Missouri Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin said in August that women's bodies have ways of preventing pregnancy in cases of what he called "legitimate rape." Since his comment, Akin has repeatedly apologized but has refused to leave his race despite calls to do so by leaders of his own party, from GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on down. It was not immediately clear what effect Mourdock's comments might have during the final two weeks in the increasingly tight race against Democratic challenger Rep. Joe Donnelly. But they could prove problematic. Romney distanced himself from Mourdock on Tuesday night — a day after a television ad featuring the former Massachusetts governor supporting the GOP Senate candidate began airing in Indiana. "Gov. Romney disagrees with Richard Mourdock's comments, and they do not reflect his views," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in an email to The Associated Press. Romney aides would not say whether the ad would be pulled and if the Republican presidential nominee would continue to support Mourdock's Senate bid.