Yesterday, NRO’s Katrina Trinko reported that a “Missouri GOP consultant e-mails that Ann Wagner, currently the Republican candidate in Todd Akin’s congressional district, may trade places with Akin.”
Obviously, that didn’t happen prior to the 5pm deadline — which would have allowed Akin to drop out unilaterally, without penalty or a court order. But he seems to be leaving the door open (a crack, at least), to a possible exit.
But now, I’m starting to hear grumblings that some of Akin’s remaining Missouri supporters are debating whether or not to abandon him — and throw their rhetorical weight behind Wagner. Support from some national conservatives is also bubbling up. For example, Breitbart.com’s Ben Shapiro tweeted this:
There is a legit legal loophole in MO that would allow Todd Akin to switch ballot slots with his district Congress candidate, Ann Wagner.
— benshapiro (@benshapiro) August 22, 2012
And Republican strategist Liz Mair tweets:
Ann Wagner for Senate would be literally THE perfect solution to this problem. I hope she’s watching and taking note…
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) August 22, 2012
Who knows where this will lead, but last night, the twitter handle @AnnWagnerSenate popped up. I’ll be keeping an eye on that…
UPDATE: A source close to the Wagner campaign emails me this: “Ann Wagner will NOT swap with Todd Akin nor is she interested in any kind of ‘deals’ like that.”