That's the only conclusion one can reasonably draw from this week's P-I story on contributors to Dino Rossi's campaign. State Democratic spokesperson Kelly Steele tries to make good spin, but the reality is that Rossi has a huge grassroots donor base - which no amount of rhetoric can hide.

One of Steele's funnier assertions of this campaign cycle is his attempt to cast aspersions on Rossi strategist J. VanderStoep. Yes, he has worked as a lobbyist - as has just about every major strategist on both sides of the aisle in the Washington state. He's also one of the most straight-laced, incorruptible people you'll run across in politics (hint: he chooses to live in Chehalis). I know J and count him a friend in politics. I also haven't laughed that hard at an opponent's accusation in quite some time.

Meanwhile, all that glosses over the huge contributor story in the gubernatorial contest: Rossi's donor base is growing by leaps and bounds.

Example: in the week and a half between when P-I reporter Chris McGann interviewed Rossi's press secretary for the article and when it ran, Rossi moved from having over 43,000 contributors to having more than 48,000. 68% of those did not contribute in 2004.

Small dollar contributors are coming out of the woodwork for this campaign in an unprecedented fashion for the Evergreen State. That means more in this Democratic state than many people care to admit.

UPDATE: typo fixed.