Video: Akin apologizes as deadline looms

>>> hi, everyone, i'm tamron hall . "news nation" following big, breaking news. embattled congressman todd akin is not leaving his race for the u.s. senate in missouri despite heated calls from so many within his own party for him to bow out. akin announcing his decision hours before the 5:00 p.m . central deadline which he could have exited the race without penalty. akin's gone on to the mike huckabee radio show . huckabee endorses him early on. this going down in last half hour to make it clear to everyone listening, he's staying put.

>> i want to make things absolutely clear and that is, we're going to continue with this race for the u.s. senate . we've given it a lot of thought and the first thing we felt we had to do was we had offended some people and we tried to respond to that and let people know that we didn't mean anybody or to take it anyway, rape, anything less than very, very seriously.

>> also this morning, his campaign released an ad called "forgiveness."

>> rape is an evil act. i used the wrong words in the wrong way and for that i apologize.

>> and despite a debate that pits the republican candidate for president against a senate hopeful and is causing strain within the party , akin supporters in missouri , some of them, standing by their man right now.

>> what he said was misguided, he admitted it was misguided, i'm all right with it. i think he's a good man. and i don't necessarily think he should drop out of the race, though it may hurt republicans' chances to win because of this comment.

>> and throw this in a pot, another development today with the gop national convention in tampa , less than a week away, a committee will vote tonight on whether to include a ban on abortions connected to acts of rape or incest and the official republican platform. that same language used in the last two election cycles, but the stakes are different for the party this time this year. nbc's kelly o'donnell joins me from capitol hill . we heard from some constituents there saying that akin should not drop out, we also note at least one congressman, steve king , today coming out in support of him.

>> reporter: well, tamron, i have exclusive reporting to tell you. i have learned from associates with congressman akin that he's not in the state of missouri . he's actually in ohio, where he has been working on his campaign, meetings that were planned before these events over the last few days. and he's been sticking to that schedule. instead of public events in the state of missouri that he wants to represent in the u.s. senate he's been making a series of phone calls that he started, and will continue today to conservative radio hosts to try to explain his position. now, you've heard that he wants to stay in the race. by talking to those closest to him they give more of an idea behind the strategy. they say now that he has shown he is sorry for his comments they believe he can effectively turn this into a cause. because of all of the pressure that's been put on him, all of the criticism from an extreme number of elected officials and conservative voices that he can now become a figure for grassroots activism, that he can be an inspiring figure, they say, and they believe he can even win this race and he would look back on this experience as a blessing to help him fight for the causes he believes in. that gives you a sense of some of the conversations that are happening around congressman akin, as he tries to plan a way forward . they say he's not stressed by all of the criticism, because he had not been given the support of the party anyway. he does acknowledge he needs money, hopes donors who might support his views, grassroots donors would help him, saying publicly they're ignoring all headwinds against him. they say the only deadline that counts is november.

>> kelly, thank you. joining me now, nationally cindy syndicated radio host michael smerconish , shawna thomas, co-founder of the women 's right group, ultraviolet. chip, i'll start off with you here. in addition to being on mike huckabee 's show, we have congressman akin on dana lesh's show, referring to false rapes as in the case of roe v. wade what he was trying to refer to the infamous interview he conducted on sunday. the bottom line here, is it the establishment now versus the guy and perhaps some tea party members who say they never backed him in the first place. what do you think here?

>> first of all, look, what he said was like everybody else , was i'm not sure what he was saying, i'm not sure what he was saying earlier on the radio show . the first rule in a crisis like this is stop digging and he's apologizing and trying to get the campaign back on track, which sounds like he's going stay in and try to do that. first, stop digging the hole and start trying to do what he's doing, apologize, move on from there. not sure going on talk radio and talking about what is false rape, not sure what that is, but just stop digging. he's not taking that advice. he's digging deeper and deeper and bringing a lot of people if he's the captain of the "titanic" owe wants to bring the whole ship down. establishment leaders say you could hurt the party . he's thumbing his nose, thinking he could perhaps become a member of the u.s. senate .

>> well, he's done. is he done voluntarily because he gets out or is he going to done at hand of the electorate in missouri on november 6th ? the stakes for the gop , though, as you made reference to a moment ago, the platform. that platform has been a pro-life platform with no exceptions for rape or incest for the last several conventions but it hasn't percolated to the surface. this could be different because everybody's about to descend on tampa , media will be there looking for a story, and it puts mitt romney and paul ryan in a very awkward position, if the party adopts a platform that is at odds with what they're saying on that issue and it becomes an embarrassment. last thought is this, every day we're talking about social issues, is a bad day for the romney / ryan ticket a good day for the president, i say.

>> maybe this is a good day for women , maybe it's not the economy, but certainly something important to women and honestly, should be to menace well. shawna, as michael noted, the language that the gop platform could perhaps include, is the same language from 2004 , 2008 , which would oppose abortions in all circumstances, rape and incest. mitt romney would be the latest candidate following john mccain and george w. bush who stand against this language or at least who don't agree with it. let me play what wrnc chairman said, the nominee with the platform language from the gop .

>> i think, as far as like these, you know, the details of some of these things, like an exception for rape or life of the mother, these are not uncommon differences that candidates have and don't share some of the detail on those exceptions. but as far as our platform is concerned, think is the platform of the republican party . it's not the platform of mitt romney .

>> let me get your thoughts on that, it's not the platform for mitt romney , it wasn't for john mccain , it's not for george w. bush but it is for people in the republican party .

>> yeah, it's right. he's coming right out and saying it. he's saying it is the platform of the republican party to blame rape victims for their own rape and own pregnancy and force women to take the rainist's children to term. that's a long standing tenet of the republican party . it's something that paul ryan believes in strongly. who is obviously on the presidential ticket as well. and romney 's on record saying they're on the same page on almost every issue that would come up through the course of the campaign. i don't think it's a stretch to say that even though what paul akin said was beyond the pale as far as what romney or other, you know, establishment republicans think that a national political figure should be saying out loud, but it reflects what the political party does believe from a policy perspective.

>> chip, let me bring you back in, so many have tied congressman ryan into this. joe scarborough took great issue, pointing out that ryan 's never used the language that akin used in the interview on sunday with the notion of rape, but he did use this forcible rape language in legislation that they co-sponsored. john heilemann, i think, had interestingen sight.

>> they co-sponsored legislation that tried to redefine rape and something called forcible rape . that was the wildest controversial it wasn't because it tried to outlaw abortions in all cases of rape and incest, they tried to carve out and make a distinction between some other form of rape and something that they called forcible rape . you know, for most women , rape is rape.

>> so, chip, does that stick on congressman ryan ? no, he never said legitimate rape but the notion of forceable rape versus some other category, heilemann said it, you feel this kay w way the president said it rape is rape.

>> rape is rape. nothing more horrible for a woman to go through than rape. they trial to lump congressman ryan in.

>> is it wrong? if he co-sponsored legislation --

>> i think it is wrong.

>> why is it wrong that he co-sponsored the legislation.

>> i'm sure congressman akin and paul ryan had 20, 30 bills this cycled they've co-sponsored.

>> how many dealt with rape? what we're talking about is the issue of rape that has come out because of the careless and awful words from congressman akin, nonetheless --

>> exactly. talking about congressman akin and you're trying to attach it to congressman wrien.

>>> define for me forcible rape .

>> ask congressman ryan what he thinks about that, he'll say rape is a horrible thing. you know that's not tying him to congressman akin. i know what the democrats are trying to do. that dog's not going to hunt the language said forcible rape . chip says that dog doesn't hunt but the dog was held on the leash with akin and ryan . it attempted to categorize or define a type of rape as opposed to just saying rape. does this at all stick on congressman ryan or as chip asserts, some kind of tactic by democrats and and it's unfair?

>> well, it's probably a tactic by democrats, but a fair tactic if there's guilt by association in this regard. he hasn't mirrored the words of the outrageous statement by congressman akin, but on the issue that you've identified, there are similarities and they have to live with that. one observation when mike huckabee 's on the radioing talking about extraordinary people who have been born by virtue of a rape, that also tells you that the far right of the republican party is not going to wave the white flag on this exception being carved out for rape or incest. that's an issue that's going to live for the next couple of days going into tampa . that's not a good thing for the gop .

>> your point, michael you have pat robertson , tony perkens, conservative leaders sticking with akin and now, in fact, tony perkins , we'll talk about late, has set his sights on senator scott brown , one of the first big name republicans to come out against akin. shaunna, i want to play governor romney 's late est assertion.

>> the xlern comments with regards to ra pe are offensive, inappropriate and wrong. and i think almost all americans concur that this man has said something that's totally inappropriate and offensive. and i'm hoping that he will give great attention to this issue today and will make a decision, which is in the best interest of the values he has for the future of the country and the country itself.

>> the clock is ticking but again, already, congressman akin, says he's not dropping out of the senate race. no the less, we know this is about the female voters out there, women voters. you had so many people on saying today, perhaps rightfully, women like men are not one-issue voters here. but at least from those you've spoken to, maybe even those who are independent and were on the fence, quite honestly what have you heard?

>> yeah, absolutely. just inside of 12 hours, we had close to 200,000 people, women and men, across the country sign a petition demanding that congressman akin resign. and it wasn't just people signing a petition. they were writing in. we got one note from a self-described conservative man who was incredibly embarrassed for his party , wanted us to know that conservative men don't agree or at least not all conservative men agree with akin and agree with the policy positions that put romney and ryan , frankly, on the same page as akin. i think that the fact that they -- this light is being shown brightly on what the actual republican party platform is with respect to women 's ability to make private decisions for themselves especially in instances of rape and incest is going to be a problem for them, as they go into the convention.

>> chip last word. what are odds that he continues to hang on and believe that his strength comes from something else and not the establishment in the party ?

>> i think he is trudging on. he's going to continue running this race. i will say this, the comments were incredibly stupid. he's apologized for that. if entry into the united states senate was not saying anything stupid, i'm not sure the united states senate would ever have a quorum. a lot of politicians have said stupid things that win elections. todd's going to push on and see what he can do.

>> go ahead, shaunna.

>> it wasn't a stupid remark. it may be the case that he does understand how women 's biology works. but if that's true, if he understands how women get pregnant, he was mr. fully negating facts in order to justify blaming women for getting pregnant.

>> he's made new comments regarding, quote, false rape. you can step out on a limb if you want, chip, but i have here in front of me, we're waiting to get more, he seems to be delving into language again regarding false rape and roe v. wade . i don't have it in its entire context, but if you want to step out on a line, feel free to do that.

>> we've seen politicians -- look, joe biden last week said something incredibly insensitive and never apologized for it. he goes on like it's no big deal . what congressman kaik dakin did was incredibly stupid.

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