In announcing his Q2 fundraising numbers, Barack Obama hasn't focused on the $32.5 million he raised but instead on the 258,000 donors he's brought aboard since the start of 2007. "Together, we have built the largest grass-roots campaign in history for this stage of a presidential race, he said. "That's the kind of movement that can change the special-interest-driven politics in Washington and transform our country. And it's just the beginning."

The campaign began framing Obama as a "man of the people" last week when it posted the first of 17 interviews with supporters on his YouTube channel. All of them are explicitly labeled donors. The group is diverse, mostly young, and only slightly political. Only one identified herself as a Democrat and said she joined the party after years as an independent. An Iraq veteran and a former Marine are interviewed. A tearful woman who lost her nephew in Iraq also speaks.

The spots mostly highlight the individuals' disdain for the current political environment as the primary motivation for supporting Obama with small donations ranging from $5 to $100. As one woman puts it: "I don't feel belittled by giving $25...."

The Obama campaign is focusing on his remarkably large base of small donors not only to reinforce the image that he's building and leading a national grassroots effort, but also because it demonstrates a source of money he can tap again and again before the primaries that are still six months away.

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