CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Many conservative leaders are swallowing their concerns about Rep. Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” flub to rally around the Missouri Senate candidate just to slap down the GOP establishment’s efforts to bully him out of the race and starve his race of money.

In the eye of the storm is former Bush advisor Karl Rove who has publicly dissed Akin and had to apologize for joking about murdering the conservative.