Updated Sep. 7, 10:15 a.m. ET
Rep. Todd Akin’s effort to continue his bid for the Missouri Senate seat is now faced with a new challenge: Paying the campaign’s bills for TV ads on time.
The Akin campaign’s TV ad buy with the NBC affiliate in Columbia was canceled by the station, according to CBS radio in St. Louis. The campaign had paid the first half of the buy, but the station did not receive the other half. The TV station also said that it has confirmed that other stations have been put in the same position.
The Akin campaign told CBS radio that the payment problem was a scheduling mistake, and the next checks are on their way.
Akin has been frozen out of conventional Republican fundraising efforts, following his false comment that women’s bodies can prevent pregnancy in cases of “legitimate rape,” and the GOP’s efforts to pressure him to drop out. Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus declared last week, “He could be tied. We’re not gonna send him a penny.”
Akin has instead relied on support from religious conservatives, such as Mike Huckabee, to assist him with online fundraising in his effort to unseat Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.
In a series of tweets, the Akin campaign is denying any failure on their part:
@erickleefeld unable to pay is misleading & wrong. We’re shifting schedules & paying for the ad time we want.
— Todd Akin (@ToddAkin) September 7, 2012
