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Senate Candidate Who Made Controversial Rape Comments Blames Liberal Media For Loss

Indiana state treasurer Richard Mourdock Richard Mourdock (R-IN) lost the election in November to Sen.-elect Joe Donnelly (D-IN) by around 6 percent. Early in the race, most polls showed Mourdock ahead, but voters seemed to abandon the candidate after he made a controversial comment about rape. “I struggled with myself for a long time but I came to realize life is that gift from God,” Mourdock said, “even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape. It is something that God intended to happen.”

Now that he’s lost, Mourdock isn’t blaming the comments themselves; instead, he faults the “liberal media” for making him look bad. In an email asking supporters for money, obtained by The Hill, Mourdock’s campaign blamed the media for making him look bad:

“After a bitter, hard-fought campaign, many Republicans all over the country were forced to accept defeat rather than celebrate victory. In our case, we found our campaign caught in the liberal media crosshairs. Never has Indiana seen a more obvious example of media bias by reporters more interested in defeating conservatives than reporting the news,” Mourdock Finance Director Ashlee Walls writes in a fundraising plea to supporters.

“We fought back and invested heavily in a last-minute push to combat the slew of false accusations Democrats and the liberal media churned up to distract voters.”

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Mourdock’s rape comments were made at a debate — he was in no way trapped by the media when he chose to call a baby born of rape a “gift from God.” And, though there’s no way to enumerate explicitly why he lost female voters, his loss can largely be attributed to the number of women who opposed him. Exit polls in Indiana showed that 52 percent of women supported Donnelly, while only 42 supported Mourdock.