Schmidt in the lead, Schmidt says

Rep. Jean Schmidt's campaign released the results of a new voter survey today and guess what? The poll results show that she's winning! We're not really surprised because we would not expect her campaign to release a survey that found she was NOT winning.

Still, the findings are quite interesting. According to the survey, Schmidt begins the General Election campaign with an 18-point lead over her challenger, Democrat Victoria Wulsin.

According to Schmidt's campaign, voters have more negative views than positive ones about Wulsin after the primary election. The Schmidt campaign suggests that the attacks from Democrat Steve Black, who lost to Wulsin in the primary election, may play a big role in her high negatives.

Black had accused Wulsin of ethics violations related to human testing experiments.

Wulsin has said she never did anything improper and that she opposed testing done by the Heimlich Institute and was later fired from the instutite for her opposition to the testing.

“Jean Schmidt is more popular now than ever with voters in stark contrast to Ms. Wulsin’s free fall. We begin the campaign with an 18 point lead in stark contrast to the political environment in 2006,” said Bruce Pfaff, Schmidt's campaign spokesman.

The survey shows that Wulsin has a net negative rating in every county except rural Pike. Cincinnati TV stations that caried Black's negative ads about the human testing experiments were not viewed in Pike County, so it's possible that the negative ads worked.

Said Pfaff: “It is now quite clear why the Democratic National Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced last week they had removed Wulsin from a list of candidates they plan to support. No doubt the DCCC has seen the same numbers and realizes that further support of Wulsin is a futile endeavor. She is the physician but I think it is fair to say that her third campaign for congress is in critical condition.”

To be accurate: The DCCC did not remove Wulsin from it's Red to Blue program list, they just did not include her on the initial 2008 list, although they said she could be added later.

Meanwhile, U.S. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer was in town today on Wulsin's behalf for a private fundraiser. And he says he's "dedicated to helping Vic win."

“I support Dr. Wulsin in her bid for Congress because of her background and leadership in public service," he said in a statement.

More Hoyer: "Dr. Wulsin is committed to serving the families of Southern Ohio and addressing the issues that matter most - solving our healthcare crisis, bringing our soldiers home from Iraq, and working with other members of Congress to invest in creating good jobs. I am dedicated to helping Vic win this November because we need her skills and experience in Washington.”