From the diaries--Chris

Update (Chris): Schmidt's campaign manager is out. The campaign has been taken over by Republicans from D.C. who plan to go huge negative. Rumors are now circulating the the Republican ad buy will be close to one million dollars. Also, check out the great video on the race in Al Rodgers' diary.

Update 2: Apparently, the campaign manager is staying. Also, apparently a conservative group will be running ads against Schmidt this weekend, telling conservatives to stay home. That's fine with me.

WHAT. A. WEEK.

I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I am going home today to Chicago for the weekend (a wedding I must attend on Sunday). I will be back on Monday to take everyone down the stretch.

The good news is, Bob Brigham will be flying into SW Ohio tonight to pick up where I leave off. Swing State Project will not miss a beat on this at all. And as you all know, Bob is the best around when it comes to getting a story out there--so I am sure an even wider audience will be reading about Paul Hackett by the time I return.

Also: Contributing is great, there is a mechanism in place so the money won't get here too late to make a difference.

But what they need now is volunteers on Saturday/Sunday/Monday/Tuesday (Election Day). So, if you can make it down, housing is available.

VOLUNTEER: VOLUNTEER@HACKETTFORCONGRESS.COM

The commercial:
Right now, someone is obtaining a copy of the newest Jean Schmidt commercial and the piece the NRCC is spending $285,000 dollars in ad time on.  Both are on the air right now apparently--though I have seen neither.  I expect the Schmidt piece to be positive, but the NRCC piece to be a hatchet job.  I am sorry that I will be gone by the time the spot gets back here and won't be able to get it online for you to see.  Cryptically, the title of the NRCC piece is "Happy." We'll see...

The Poll:
I have had it confirmed from another source that the polling data reported last night is accurate.  One source said Schmidt is up 5 points, another said that Paul was "within ten." The Hotline reported this morning that polls show the margin tightening.  FEC reports confirm an NRCC independent expenditure for a poll that most likely dropped this week--So all of this is coming together and I am fairly confident in its accuracy.

The Panic:
The GOP is freaking out--we have them on the run and there is no doubt about it.  Jean Schmidt is calling her primary opponents asking them for their volunteer lists.  An email went out this morning (still trying to get my hands on it) from a Republican organization that says, "Democrats smell blood in the water" and urge people to come to Ohio to phone-bank, block-walk, and basically save her campaign from collapsing.

Swift Boating Continues
The CBS news affiliate in Cincinnati aired a piece yesterday on the "Swift Boating" of Paul Hackett.  It talks about Minameyer and how this thing is causing quite a stir.

Watch the news item

The Fundraising
What can I say?  Seriously.  As a collective and individually, some of these efforts have been absolutely unbelievable.

Passing the Torch
As I said above, Brigham is taking over the ship when he gets here tonight.  I'll be back on Monday.  As I have written about this race, I have simply jotted down what I know, no coordination what-so-ever.  I think that allowed me to talk about things that otherwise would have been bottled up had I been a campaign staffer.  I hope that it has given everyone a "window into the campaign.*  I think we can expect to see the same from Bob when he gets here.

Thanks!

Tim