

Money. A lot of it. (bigstockphoto)

What do you get when you form a super PAC that opposes the overwhelming power of super PACs in campaigns? You get Mayday PAC, a group that reached its self-imposed fundraising goal last week and plans to press on in its effort to reduce the influence of money in politics by, well, spending money in politics.

"Ironic, we understand. But embrace the irony," advises the group.

Mayday PAC, a group founded by Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig and GOP media strategist Mark McKinnon, surpassed its goal of raising $5 million by July 4. As of Monday afternoon, it said on its Web site that it raised more than $7.3 million.

"You did it. Amazingly, dramatically, beautifully, you did it," Lessig wrote in a note to supporters on the site. "I won’t say I knew you would. I wasn’t that smart. And I won’t even say this crowdfunding idea was mine. It wasn’t. But when I heard it, I knew it was right, and that we had to do it."

The group plans to play in at least five congressional campaigns this year that will be determined between now and the election. Had the group missed its goal, it would have called it a day and figured out something else.

"We’ve been looking at this for months, but there is tons to think through before we make the choice," Lessig wrote on his blog Sunday.

The stated goal of Mayday PAC is a multi-step process of reducing the influence of big money in politics that starts with the midterm election effort and would ideally lead to passing legislation in Congress by 2017.

In other words, they are fighting fire with fire. We'll keep an eye on their activities this cycle to see if they make gains or not.

Over on The Switch, Brian Fung looks at how the group has met its money goals and what's next.