While acknowledging that he faces almost insurmountable odds, economist Peter Schiff isn’t about to unfurl the white flag of surrender in his bid for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut.

Schiff, who has reportedly already committed $700,000 of his own money to the race, is relying on his small, but fervent national following to provide him with the means for a last-minute television blitz and direct-mail campaign in his uphill battle against GOP frontrunner Linda McMahon in the state’s August 10 primary.

The Schiff campaign plans an on-line “money bomb” on Thursday. They hope to raise a million dollars for television and radio ads during the final week of the campaign.

“I need the support of the people who believe in this movement, who believe in me as a candidate and hopefully they will reach into their pockets a little bit and supply the funds that I need to pay for the media buy,” he said.

McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, has already spent $22 million of her personal fortune on the race. Including a $550,000 personal loan to his campaign, the former economic advisor to Ron Paul’s 2008 presidential campaign has raised a little more than $3 million as of June 30.

Ignored by McMahon throughout the primary contest, Schiff — the first Republican in Connecticut history to successfully petition his way onto a statewide primary ballot — has been an underdog since officially entering the race during an early morning appearance on MSNBC last September. He continues to trail McMahon by nearly forty points in the most recent polls.

Believing that she’s already captured the party’s nomination and unwilling to draw any attention to her pesky rival, McMahon refused to appear with Schiff at last night’s debate at Trinity College in Hartford, a lively exchange sponsored by the Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations.

It’s unfortunate that McMahon “didn’t think enough of Connecticut taxpayers to show up,” needled Schiff.

Sadly, nearly two-thirds of Connecticut’s Republican voters claim they don’t know enough about Schiff to form an opinion — a factor he hopes to change through last-minute television and radio advertising.

“I do a much better job of appealing to Republicans than Linda does,” he told the Business Insider last week. His biggest problem, he said, is making them aware that he’s running, and he can’t do that without significant television advertising.

Even if Thursday’s “money bomb” fails to materialize, preventing an unexpected eleventh-hour surge that would shake the political establishment to its core, the 47-year-old president and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital vows to remain in the race until the last vote is counted.

If he can’t go to the Senate to prevent the complete collapse of the U.S. economy, he said wistfully, he can “at least prepare people for it.”