Todd Akin’s new push for female voters has not gone over much better than the congressman’s August explanation of his opposition to abortion rights even in the case of rape.
On Tuesday the Akin campaign posted the Women for Akin website under the tagline “We think for ourselves.”
The website, published on the day the Akin campaign plans a “Missouri Women Standing with Todd Akin” kickoff event featuring Phyllis Schlafly, was pulled down a few hours after it launched, after the St. Louis Post-Dispatch discovered one of the women featured prominently in a photo with Akin is actually a Democratic staffer.
“Corinne Matti, who is pictured on Akin’s site standing to Akin’s left, is a ‘tracker’ for the Missouri Democratic Party,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “Her job, which she does openly, is to attend Akin’s public events and report back to the Democrats. She has been doing it for more than a year.”
Akin campaign spokesperson Ryan Hite told the paper the Women for Akin site was posted before it was ready for public consumption.
“This page is simply a draft version that was not approved for public release,” Hite said. “Photos and other design features are just tests to view page sizes and changes, not the final photos to be used.”
The site featured a brochure filled with testimonials from women who said they supported Akin.
Tuesday’s event with Schlafly was touted by the campaign with a video featuring several women from the brochure, and a narrator whose face is obscured to the camera:
Hite did not respond to a request for comment from TPM. But a staffer at the Akin campaign office said the Schlafly event is going ahead as planned.
