  Friday, August 24, 2012 | 7:17 p.m. CDT  Todd Akin is still
the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri.  Now what?
That's a question that should be pondered by U.S. Sen. Roy
Blunt, and former Sens. John Ashcroft, Christopher "Kit" Bond
and John C. Danforth. Those four men, the elder statesmen of the
Missouri Republican Party, urged Mr. Akin to leave the race
against Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill in the aftermath
of Mr. Akin's horribly wrong statement about what he called
"legitimate rape."  The cynic would see their failed attempt to
push Mr. Akin out of the race as pure political survival,
separating their party from the albatross that Mr. Akin has
become to save the rest of their statewide ticket.  Missourians,
whatever their political persuasion, should hope there's more to
it than that. These four men have records of leadership far
different than the extremism of Mr. Akin and the demagoguery
embodied by many others in their party today.  We hope that Mrs.
Blunt, Ashcroft, Bond and Dan