(take it for what its worth)
The NRCC conducted a poll earlier this week (there is another poll in the field, but no idea by who), that showed the poor numbers. The numbers were leaked by a Republican who is part of a group that doesn't see eye to eye with Schmidt on certain issues.
In response, the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee has just dumped $285,000 into an astounding 1800+ point ad buy that will start running Friday through Tuesday. This is public record.
Now Jean Schmidt is scurrying to round up to volunteers from her primary opposition in a last ditch effort to counter Paul Hackett's overwhelming advantage on-the-ground. To the shock of the GOP, Hackett is also going toe-to-toe on television as well in terms of dollars. The free press because of Paul's service has been huge as well. I overheard the campaign manager (I believe) of Schmidt's campaign say to a Hackett staffer, "I have no idea how the hell you guys are raising this much money." They are worried. <..snip..>
<
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/27/211833/649>Best blog on the campaign:
http://blog.oh02.com/Today's lead story:
"The Smell of Blood"
http://blog.oh02.com/2005/07/28/the-smell-of-blood/Campaign site:
http://HackettForCongress.com/Donate (securely):
http://www.actblue.com/list/hackett