Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock Loss: Rape Comments Crater GOP Senate Chances

Fox News has called the race in Indiana and Missouri against the GOP senate candidates Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin, who became the poster children of how to lose a senate race in a quick sound bite.

Both candidates became famous by making similar comments about rape on the campaign trail when asked about their stance on abortion. Todd Akin made the faulty claim that a women's body can somehow shut down to not become pregnant. Richard Mourdock seemed to conclude that if a woman got pregnant due to rape it was God's will.

Both of these candidates rose through the influence of the Tea Party. In particular, they rose because the Tea Party has been taken over by the religious right in the Republican Party. Now the Tea Party which was largely responsible for the republicans taking over the House in 2010 is cratering the GOP's chances of taking the Senate in 2012.

The fact is that most Americans, even those in solidly red states, do not like the hard core views that these two candidates take on abortion. They lost their races because of it. Hopefully the GOP will learn a lesson because if they had put up another candidate instead of Akin or Mourdock, they would likely have both seats in their column tonight.