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.

Missouri Republican Todd Akin's comment that women who were victims of "legitimate rape" rarely become pregnant touched off furious maneuvering by Republicans and Democrats alike. It's the latest iteration of a campaign driven by both sides' need to court a small slice of the American electorate.

Suburban women will play an outsized role in deciding whether President Barack Obama keeps his job.

The issue reverberated Sunday as Mitt Romney accused Obama's campaign of sinking to a sad low by trying to link the GOP candidate to Akin.

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