At a fundraiser this weekend, John Koster, the Republican candidate for Washington's first congressional district, was asked by what appears to be a tracker whether he would ever support abortion. Warning: This is not the weirdest thing a Republican has said about rape this year, or even this month. Koster said when a mother's life is in danger, he wouldn't make the choice for her. Incest? "It's so rare." Rape? That is where he started sounding like a dorm room philosopher:

"But on the rape thing, it's like, how does putting more violence onto a woman's body and taking the life of an innocent child that's the consequence of this crime, how does that make it better? You know what I mean?"

Yeah man, it's like wars, you know? How, like, do we stop the violence by like committing more violence? It's a messed up circle, man.

The Stranger posted the audio clip, and then Talking Points Memo picked it up. It might not go much further, as this is a congressional race, not a senate race, and the language Koster used was flippant but not as colorful as some of his fellow candidates'. Real Clear Politics rates the race as "lean Democratic." It's only been polled a few times, but the most recent one showed Democrat Suzan DelBene 3 percentage points ahead.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at ereeve at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Elspeth Reeve