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NEW YORK (AP) The uproar over Rush Limbaugh's derisive comments about a young woman's sex life is serving as a vivid reminder of the outsize role conservative media stars play in Republican politics.

With a Democratic president in the White House and no leading GOP elected official setting the party's agenda, Limbaugh and other media personalities like the late Andrew Breitbart and even Donald Trump have filled a vacuum for many conservatives seeking a full-throated political advocate. The popularity of such figures among Republican core voters has made party leaders reluctant to cross them, even when their comments or tactics steer well out of bounds.

Democrats have plenty of left-leaning media figures in their corner, too some of whom have made comments that have embarrassed the party and its candidates. Bill Maher, who gave $1 million to a super PAC that supports President Barack Obama, was widely criticized recently for mocking NFL quarterback Tim Tebow's religious beliefs on Twitter.

But no liberal media figure has an audience the size of Limbaugh's, estimated as high as 20 million listeners mostly men per week. And no one suggests Maher or any other commentator has displaced Obama as the voice of the Democratic Party.

"The voices you hear on the conservative side have an audience of people who are very skeptical of traditional mainstream media and power," said Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington who studies media in politics. "If you're a Republican candidate you don't want to offend those people. They are the most hard-core Republican voters and the most likely to turn out in a primary."

Such was the case last week, when the top GOP presidential candidates distanced themselves from Limbaugh but did not directly criticize him after he called 30-year old Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute" on his radio show. Fluke had testified to Democratic members of Congress in support of a requirement that health care companies provide coverage for contraception. That requirement would compel her Jesuit college's health plan to cover her birth control.

Limbaugh offered an apology to Fluke on his website Saturday after sponsors began suspending advertising on his show, which is carried by 600 stations and is by far the most popular talk radio program in the U.S. He voiced regret on the air on Monday, too, but also said he was the victim of a double standard. He said, "Rappers can say anything they want about women. It's called art. And they win awards."

The controversy has been an inopportune tempest for Republican hopeful Mitt Romney, who has tried to focus on jobs and the economy but has found himself dealing with questions about social issues in recent weeks.

Romney said he wouldn't have used the language Limbaugh chose, but he refrained from directly criticizing him. The former Massachusetts governor has struggled in his efforts to cement his status as the front-runner in the field, in part because of the reluctance of many conservative voters to get behind his candidacy.

Rick Santorum called Limbaugh an "entertainer" who had license to be "absurd" sometimes, while Newt Gingrich dismissed the matter as a media distraction. Only Ron Paul took Limbaugh to task, telling CBS' "Face the Nation" that the commentator's language went over the top at times.

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Limbaugh and the GOP: The media stars and politics