Whither the poll?

Was the embargo on a NRCC poll spurning Wayne Gilchrest, as his chief of staff contends, or spurred by Gilchrest?

The answer: Both.

Throughout the First District Republican primary, both Gilchrest and E.J. Pipkin loudly proclaimed that Andy Harris would have trouble holding the seat in November.

Gilchrest used it as a way to shore up his support on the Hill, while Pipkin made it one of his reasons for jumping in and Harris was called to address it in debates. It was an issue.

So, the National Republican Congressional Committee, worried by this, commissioned a poll last month to poll the primary and do head-to-heads for all the candidates to see what the damage would be.

There wasn’t any. Harris had a strong 15 point lead, which was identical to a generic Republican-Democrat match-up. They released some of this information the day after the primary.

Which is Tony Caligiuri’s beef with the NRCC, saying they ought to have shared that information with their campaign; that they ought to be there for incumbents in need.

But the NRCC, which is hurting financially and seems to be on shaky ground organizationally, simply could not afford to make an in-kind contribution to Gilchrest – something they are required to do when sharing polling information. It would be an expensive precedent to set with other members around the country.

So Caligiuri is right: the NRCC is not there for incumbents in need. But the poll was not in spite of Gilchrest – it was spurred by him. It’s doubtful they’re polling the Texas 17th for head-to-heads in the Ron Paul primary.

These polls are fairly worthless anyway.

Doing Republican-Democrat head-to-heads in the final stretch of a heated Republican primary with a few million being spent while the Democrats conduct a mediocre low-dollar race is not an accurate snapshot of where the race is today or where it will be in the fall.