A pumped up Claire McCaskill wasted no time going on the offensive this morning against her newly crowned challenger, Republican Todd Akin.
Speaking at a sheet metal shop in the East Bottoms, McCaskill said Akin, who won a grueling, three-way GOP primary Tuesday night, was "out of the mainstream of Missouri.
"We're going to prove to Missourians that Todd Akin is out of touch with their problems, out of touch with the pain they feel," she told reporters.
She cited four main areas to illustrate her point: Medicare, Social Security, student loans and the minimum wage.
Akin, who said Tuesday night that he wants to work to restore Medicare cuts coming as a result of the new federal health care law, isn't sure the program is constitutional.
"He wants to make seniors arm-wrestle with their insurance companies for their health care," McCaskill said.
He would privatize Social Security and wants to get the federal government out of the business of providing college loans, which McCaskill said would make it next to impossible for many poor students to attend.
"It shuts down opportunity for most Missouri families," she said.
On the minimum wage, Akin opposes the law. McCaskill said without it, the U.S. could turn into China or India where some workers earn as little as $2 a week.
"He actually believes these things need to go away," McCaskill said.
Her campaign today launched a new website aimed at fact checking Akin's claims. Meantime, Crossroads GPS is up with a new TV ad buy that is taking aim at the Democrat.
McCaskill said she'll launch a statewide tour next week that will have her camping out overnight at the state fair in Sedalia.
Lloyd Smith, executive director of the Missouri Republican Party, countered that McCaskill has "voted with Barack Obama 95 percent of the time since 2010—rubberstamping everything from the stimulus to Obamacare to massive tax hikes on American job creators.
"McCaskill can’t campaign on her own liberal record, so she’s resorted to the same old scare tactics that Democrats recycle every election year."
