The Daily Kos report mentioned above points to conversations in the group’s public chat room, which appeared to suggest that Mayday had come up short in a promised $5 million in funds that were meant to match the group’s frenetic July fundraising drive. “The Daily Kos piece was incredibly misleading because it suggested we’d represented something that had turned out not to be true,” Lessig said. The implication was that the group had fallen short. Which, Lessig says, they never said they wouldn’t. The plan was: Raise a million dollars and match it from big donors. Then, raise another five — that July push — and Lessig would try to match that, too.
“I have from the very beginning said this was my objective,” Lessig said, “and I never once said we’d achieved the objective.” The original match was meant to inspire confidence in the system. The second Lessig is still working on, but wouldn’t provide details on how much had been raised or from whom, saying only, “I think I’m confident that we’re about halfway to getting the five together.” An important addition to that: “Right now we’re building a plan based on the assumption that we’re not going to get it.” If they don’t get it, they simply have different sticks with which to poke.