Appearing on Sean Hannity’s radio show moments ago, Rep. Todd Akin insisted that he had no plans to drop out of the Missouri U.S. Senate race following the uproar over his “legitimate rape” comments, despite a parade of Republicans led by Mitt Romney urging him to do so. Unless he changes his mind, the senate seat that was ripe for Republican picking will almost assuredly remain in Democratic hands. But this leaves a minor dilemma for Democrats.

In the past few days, Republicans and conservative commentators have harshly condemned Akin. This has provided Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., with a treasure trove of material to use in ads over the next few months portraying Akin as “too extreme even for his own party.”

At the same time, President Obama and national Democrats will want to tie Akin to the rest of the Republican party, especially to Romney. But if McCaskill runs ads featuring Republicans slamming Akin, it will undermine that strategy.

Obviously, these are problems that Democrats would like to have. But it should be interesting to see how McCaskill and the national Democrats exploit the gift that Akin has given them.