The Hill News

Voters will have to render their judgment on a "big, serious, sloppy mistake," Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said of her acknowledged failure to pay taxes on a private plane.

McCaskill, who admitted in recent weeks to both using taxpayer money to fund political travel and failing to pay almost $300,000 in taxes on a private plane, said she'd leave it to Missouri voters to make up their minds on the matter.

"[T]he voters will have to decide whether this big, serious, sloppy mistake is enough for them to decide not to hire me again," McCaskill said Wednesday in a conference call with Missouri reporters. "And I will leave that in their good judgment."

"In the meantime, I'm going to try not to become distracted by a circus-like atmosphere over the next 18 months, to try and make everything a negative as it! relates to me, and keep on doing my job," she added.

McCaskill's drawn scrutiny from Republicans for the lapses, who have sought to use the admissions against her in the 2012 campaign.

McCaskill, a relative centrist, is expected to face a tough challenge in Missouri, a state that's tended toward Republicans in recent election cycles.