We've just received new signature numbers from the Sam Adams recall campaign. Having gathered just 6,000 signatures in 34 days, the campaign to recall Sam Adams faces quite a challenge. With another 56 days to go, they’ll have to gather 786 signatures per day in order to meet their goal of 50,000. So far, they've been operating with an average of 176 signatures a day, according to our calculations. They now need to increase their rate of collection by a whopping 345 percent to meet the deadline.

The recall filed with the city auditor's office on July 7, and began collecting signatures on July 8. That makes 34 days gathering signatures. 6,000 divided by 34=176. With just 56 days left until the October 5 deadline, the campaign needs to gather a further 44,000 signatures to succeed. 44,000 divided by 56=786 signatures, or 785.7 a day, to be precise.

The recall technically needs just 32,000 signatures to force a recall election, but Jasun Wurster, head of the campaign, says he wants to get 50,000 to make allowances for any potential invalid signatures.

So when do the prospects for the recall start to look bleak? “Never,” says Wurster. “It’s going to be close, but we’re seeing exponential growth as new volunteers, 10-15, are trained each day.” Yet, he recognizes “people will be very cynical of the numbers this first month.”

Check out this week's Mercury for more on the progress of the campaign.

-Rachael Marcus