weak candidate. i wish we had a better candidate but we don't. a lot of conservative groups are going to support akin and missouri is still a conservative state and i think he has a 49.5% chance of winning this thing. >> do you think he should be in the u.s. senate? >> listen, that's for the people of missouri to decide. >> no, do you think he should be in the senate? >> i would have voted for somebody else in the primary. >> sara steelman, probably. nice dodge there, by the way. don dodges the ball, and he should. bob shrum, thank you. let me give you a slew, michele bachmann, there he is, joe walsh, allen west. what a group. they have new reasons to be hopeful. this is "hardball," a place for politics.