Akin fallout could stick to GOP ticket

Just days before Republicans raise the curtain on their convention in Tampa, the controversy has given Democrats fresh ammunition in waging a campaign against Romney grounded in what they have dubbed a "war on women.” Their new approach has been to hit his running mate as they try to tether Romney to the mostly unknown Wisconsin lawmaker's 14-year voting record.

For all the upsides of joining forces with Ryan, a conservative whose calling card is budgetary issues and not social ones, there are some downsides of a more obscure record for opponents to pick through.

(Also on POLITICO: Ryan: Romney abortion policies ‘good step’)

Even before Akin handed them this gift, the abortion issue is one that the Democrats were already hoping to use against the GOP ticket. Romney, who tacked right during the primaries on social issues, was a supporter of abortion rights during his ۲۰۰۲ gubernatorial election and has aroused suspicions among social conservatives because of that for years despite evolving to embrace the anti - abortion cause.

“This is one of the dangers of having a congressman on the ticket when the ticket hasn’t yet started fighting the bigger battle about who can best lead us to ‘The Promised Land, ’” said Alex Castellanos, a Republican strategist and former Romney adviser in his ۲۰۰۸ campaign.

“When campaigns aren’t about big things, the small things become the big things, including congressional votes and whether mom is on Medicare, ” he said.

Former Rep. Tom Reynolds, who was head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, noted that senators and governors also have records, but added that with congressmen they do tend to be “less vetted” by the national or statewide media.

That the party, and Romney, moved swiftly to cauterize the wound that Akin left could help expedite the end of this particular controversy. Ryan, a congressional colleague of Akin’s, personally reached out to the Missouri member to ask Akin to consider the impact he was having on the party.

But it is, just as in the primaries, a social - issues headline explosion that is pulling Romney sharply off his singular focus on the economy.

The Akin situation, Republicans note, was unforeseeable and the result of a single person with no real ties to the party who has been roundly denounced. Still, the controversy has dominated Romney’s pre - convention week.

Republicans, while not minimizing the impact or seriousness of Akin’s comments, have said that Democrats are trying to stoke outrage.

“I think the governor’s made very clear and he’s been very vocal about how reprehensible he thought Todd Akin’s comments were and he thought it was right for Rep. Akin to step aside from the Senate race, ” said Romney spokesman Kevin Madden.

“But I think for voters who are looking at the issues and still deciding who to support, Gov. Romney has made very clear where he stands on these issues and he’s made very clear why he’s running for president. I think the campaign will continue to focus on the big issues at hand and the big issues of the country. ”

Democrats have gone out of their way to yoke Romney and Ryan to the Akin controversy, and to highlight every aspect of their national convention that relates to women. On Wednesday morning, Democrats announced Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student and birth - control activist who became famous after being criticized by Rush Limbaugh, would be a convention speaker, along with a string of other prominent female names. The Obama campaign emailed out a message from Fluke late Wednesday, painting Romney as weak on condemning Limbaugh’s “slut” comment.

A number of social conservatives have said they believe Democrats are overplaying their hand, and focusing so singularly on abortion means they are avoiding discussing the economy. Romney tried to shift the focus back to economic issues on Wednesday in Iowa, with surrogates highlighting the number of women who have lost jobs in the recession. But that move did little to break through the Akin coverage.

With the Akin storm brewing ahead of the convention, the GOP platform committee meeting this week in Tampa passed draft language on Tuesday that included no exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother when it comes to abortion that Democrats quickly labeled the “Akin Plank. ” This language is further to the right of Romney’s own positions(he supports abortion exceptions).

His position is at odds with Ryan, who is Catholic and only favors an exception for abortion if the life of the mother is in jeopardy. The Wisconsin lawmaker is consistent on abortion issues and has been throughout his career.

“The differences of opinion between Romney and Ryan are only two of the shades of opinion on this issue throughout the United States, ” said former GOP Rep. Nancy Johnson, who famously joined with Democrats to vote against the partial - birth abortion ban, adding that “Ryan’s general conservatism has been reassuring” to the party’s base, but it’s fiscal issues for which he is best known.

Asked about his abortion stands on Wednesday, Ryan, for his part, has sublimated his own opinion into that of the larger ticket, telling reporters that Romney’s policy of “exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother” is something he is “comfortable with … because it’s a good step in the right direction. ”

However, Ryan backed a bill that initially included the language “forcible rape” that would have permanently banned abortion funding except in the case of that crime and incest. The language was removed within a few short weeks, and aides said Ryan’s point was about federal funding of abortion — an issue on which many Catholics and conservatives share his view.

Asked about the bill in an interview in Pennsylvania, Ryan cut off the questioner, saying, “Rape is rape. ” He reiterated that there should be no distinctions and didn’t get into details of the ۲۰۱۱ bill.

But Democrats highlighted that Akin also supported that bill, arguing that Ryan “worked with Todd Akin to try to narrow the definition of rape, ” according to a statement from Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith.

The Akin comments have dominated the media in no small part because of the widespread condemnation from Republicans, including conservatives like Sarah Palin.

Akin has vowed to remain in the race, over the same stretch of days when the GOP platform committee has hammered out tough language on abortion. Republican strategist Steve Schmidt argued it wouldn’t work to try to paint Ryan with the Akin brush, “if for no other reason than that Ryan has ۱۴۰ IQ points on Akin. ”

But he added, “Everyone has reacted with such appropriate revulsion to it that it’s not going to be a circumstance that gets away from Republicans like the[Mark] Foley instance in ۲۰۰۶. … I think it’s doom for Todd Akin … but it’s not gonna stick on the rest of the party. ”

Rob Stutzman, a California - based operative who worked for Romney in ۲۰۰۸, added that Romney’s denunciation of Akin gives him a bit of a chance for some separation from the base.

“It’s first of all a spotlight on the party platform and the lack of acceptance, but at the same time it gives Romney and Scott Brown and others an opportunity to stand back from the party a little bit, ” he said.

Yet this is not a fight that Romney has typically sought out, or one that the presumptive nominee has in any way made central to the message he has projected thus far.

Instead, Romney has very purposefully and consistently presented himself as a pragmatic businessman who is not interested in sideshows. Right now, his party is engaged heavily in one.

On the flip side, Romney has to be careful in how he approaches the issue — he didn’t call Akin himself, Ryan did, to suggest it was time to think about the party’s future. That tied Ryan to the controversy but also made clear where the ticket stood.

There is also the concern, mentioned privately by some conservatives, that Akin will be used to explain Romney’s gender gap among women, which was in double digits heading into last weekend prior to the controversy.

Romney supporters argue that the gender gap has existed in every election, including John McCain’s in ۲۰۰۸. They also point out that Romney and Ryan are not the first running mates to be out of lockstep on certain issues.

“When you ask people what is the most important issue in this race, abortion, I don’t think, makes the top six or seven, ” said Rep. Tom Davis, who ran the NRCC for two cycles. “It may rah - rah your base …[but Romney] repudiated[Akin] right away. ”

In the meantime, while this has cast a cloud on the convention, the expectation is that the controversy will be over by the time Romney gives his nomination speech next Thursday. Akin isn’t attending the convention so that will be a relief to some Republicans.

"Next week, Ryan gets his day in the sun,” Davis said. "He's got a scripted speech, and Romney [goes] the next night. & The Democrats have missed an opportunity to define Ryan.”