Larry Levine, chair of a community services organization in tiny Hinton, W.Va., gives $50 or $100 every two or three weeks. Hardly anyone would see an Obama sign on his gravel road, he says, but he does keep an Obama sticker in the window of his car.

Riggs, the photographer from Oregon, began making calls for Obama after she began contributing, and even flew to Waco to canvass neighborhoods before the Texas primary.

"I've never done anything" before, said Riggs. "This man has stirred me."

And she's ready to help again.

While the small donors' impact in the immediate race is unquestioned, their future involvement in politics remains an intriguing question mark.

Are these new donors connected only to Obama, or a permanent part of the Democratic political apparatus? Individual donors suggest the answer could go either way.

Dan Cole, a 78-year-old retired teacher from Chicago, said he's willing to look elsewhere should Obama's campaign falter.

"What's of primary importance is that we get a Democrat in the White House," Cole says. "We're not going to fold up our tent and fall back to our hole if it's Hillary or nothing."

But Rosanna Williams, 82, a Philadelphia retiree who has given $500 to Obama in small increments, is adamant.

"If Obama doesn't win, then they can forget about me," she declared.

It could spell trouble for Democrats down the line if Obama's younger supporters don't transfer over.

Anthony Corrado, a campaign finance expert at Colby College in Maine, said there's good reason to think many of Obama's donors won't branch out should his candidacy falter.

"That $25 is their first foray into politics," Corrado said. If Obama doesn't win, he said, "Among these small donors, many will be done. Obama is their candidate."

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Associated Press writers Ann Sanner, Christine Simmons, David Pace and database editor Troy Thibodeaux contributed to this report.