Todd Akin

Barack Obama's Democrats were on a path on Tuesday to retain control of the Senate, holding on to a key seat in Missouri where the losing Republican candidate triggered a firestorm with comments about "legitimate rape."

Another Republican US Senate candidate sparked a controversy on Monday with comments on rape, comparing his family member's decision to have a child outside marriage to a pregnancy caused by rape.

A nation at war, crippling joblessness and a looming budget standoff that could wreck the economy have been overshadowed in recent days by an issue that polls show doesn't even crack voters' lists of top 10 concerns: abortion.

Todd Akin defied the nation's top Republicans on Tuesday and forged ahead with his besieged Senate bid, declaring the party was overreacting to his comments that women's bodies can prevent pregnancies in cases of "legitimate rape" and by insisting he abandon his campaign.

Coming out strongly against a Republican lawmaker's definition of a "legitimate rape", US President Barack Obama on Monday termed his remarks as offensive and insisted that a "rape is a rape" and there can be no differentiation in it.

The Republican Party all but spelled out its demand on Monday for one of their own to drop out of elections after his shock comments about rape, seeing him as a liability in efforts to win control of the US Senate.

Barack Obama's Democrats were on a path on Tuesday to retain control of the Senate, holding on to a key seat in Missouri where the losing Republican candidate triggered a firestorm with comments about "legitimate rape."

Another Republican US Senate candidate sparked a controversy on Monday with comments on rape, comparing his family member's decision to have a child outside marriage to a pregnancy caused by rape.

A nation at war, crippling joblessness and a looming budget standoff that could wreck the economy have been overshadowed in recent days by an issue that polls show doesn't even crack voters' lists of top 10 concerns: abortion.

Todd Akin defied the nation's top Republicans on Tuesday and forged ahead with his besieged Senate bid, declaring the party was overreacting to his comments that women's bodies can prevent pregnancies in cases of "legitimate rape" and by insisting he abandon his campaign.

Coming out strongly against a Republican lawmaker's definition of a "legitimate rape", US President Barack Obama on Monday termed his remarks as offensive and insisted that a "rape is a rape" and there can be no differentiation in it.

The Republican Party all but spelled out its demand on Monday for one of their own to drop out of elections after his shock comments about rape, seeing him as a liability in efforts to win control of the US Senate.