Electoral Math Not Adding Up to Republican-Run Senate
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The election-year arithmetic in U.S. Senate races is growing increasingly complicated for Republicans, diminishing the party’s prospects of winning a majority that earlier this year was seen as within its grasp.
The first blow for Republicans came in February, when Maine’s Olympia Snowe announced her retirement. In May six-term Indiana Republican Senator Richard Lugar lost to Tea Party backed primary challenger Richard Mourdock, who said this week that pregnancy caused by rape was something “God intended” and doesn’t justify abortion. Also, Missouri Republican Todd Akin insisted on staying in the Senate race after saying on Aug. 19 that “legitimate rape” rarely causes pregnancy.