Akin seeking handouts as big donors flee in wake of rape remarks


JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)

Abandoned by deep-pocketed national groups, Missouri Rep. Todd Akin is passing a collection plate among his remaining supporters, asking for a few dollars at a time in hopes of sustaining a Senate campaign jeopardized by his remarks about women's bodies and "legitimate rape."

Akin claimed Thursday to have taken in more than $100,000 during a two-day online fundraising drive that he portrayed as a grassroots effort to circumvent "party bosses" who demanded that he drop out.

But the six-term congressman will need much more than that to replenish a campaign account already diminished by a hotly contested primary.