McCaskill raises $5.8M; Akin backs abortion remark

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill touted a $5.8 million fundraising haul for her re-election campaign Wednesday as Republican challenger Todd Akin sought to raise cash amid new attention to his remarks about abortion.

McCaskill’s campaign promoted her quarterly fundraising totals as a record for a Missouri Senate candidate nearing an election, though it did not say how much she had left after expenses. The Democratic incumbent raked in the cash during a period in which Akin lost the financial backing of top national Republicans because of his much-criticized remarks about women having biological means of averting pregnancy in “legitimate rape.”