One day after conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly announced that former U.S. House Speaker and 2012 Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich would appear at a Monday fundraiser supporting the U.S. Senate campaign of U.S. Rep. Todd Akin (R-Wildwood), Akin campaign staffers announced it would be closed to news media.
A campaign spokesman told Patch Wednesday there would likely be a Monday morning news conference regarding the event, which The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports will be at Trattoria Branica in Kirkwood.
It will be the highest-profile attempt at fundraising for the Akin campaign since national GOP interests urged him to get out of the Senate race following his comments about "legitimate rape" and pregnancy last month. Akin has resisted numerous calls to exit.
Gingrich told ABC News: "I think Todd Akin was the choice of the people in Missouri, and Todd Akin has publicly apologized. I just think people ought to be a little cautious about saying the voters of Missouri don’t count.”
The Monday fundraiser will come after the first debate between Akin and incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill, scheduled for Friday in Columbia, MO, and after a practical deadline of Sept. 21 to file a court order to get off the ballot will have passed.
