* Jim Oberweis spoke to the Champaign County Active Seniors Republicans on Monday…

“We’re going to make some inroads in Chicago. All we have to do is get between 25 and 27 percent in Chicago and we will win statewide,” he told the group. “That’s what it takes. They’re showing me within 8 points of Dick Durbin. If we can get the turnout up we will win.”

Later, though, meeting with reporters, Oberweis said he couldn’t name the source of the poll and said he was disappointed with his campaign’s fundraising in the second quarter, which ended June 30.

“I am not as happy with our fundraising as I would like to see. We have raised something like a half million plus I have made significant contributions to the campaign,” he said. “We need to get this to the national level. This is going to be a very expensive race if we’re going to win this race. Mr. Durbin has millions and millions (more than $6 million as on March 31) in his campaign account. We have a little less than a million in our campaign account. We need some help. I can’t do it alone.

“Unfortunately the way these things work is the national groups tend to put their money into those races that are very, very close and I believe that we really need to see 4 to 5 points (difference) for us to bring the national guys in in a big way.”

The only recent poll of the race, take in early June by the web site Reboot Illinois, had Durbin leading Oberweis, 52 percent to 39 percent with 9 percent undecided.