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"We're just two guys." (ISO campaign donations.)

Fearing a third-quarter slump in support, President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Michelle Obama and a bevy of campaign managers and VIPs popped up in in-boxes this week seeking small-dollar contributions as a key fundraising deadline loomed on Sept. 30.

“I need to ask you one last thing before tonight's midnight deadline,” Biden wrote in an email Friday. “If you know you're going to donate to this campaign eventually, what's stopping you from doing it right now? If you're going to be a part of history in 2012, it's time to get off the sidelines. So, before midnight, will you chip in what you can and say you’re in? This has never been about Barack and me. We're just two guys. It's folks like you out there who will decide this election.”

Campaign and White House officials lowered expectations for summer fundraising to around $55 million, explaining that the economy, summer distractions for donors, and a prolonged battle in Washington over the debt ceiling that kept Obama off the road would lower the total from earlier goals. Some experts have questioned the suggestion that summer is normally a lower fundraising season for candidates, pointing out that incumbent presidents seeking re-election have not encountered third-quarter slumps that some challengers reported during previous contests.

Obama in the second quarter -- as the Federal Election Commission measures the required public reports -- brought in a record-breaking $86 million, shared with the Democratic National Committee.

He squeezed in a final campaign event Friday night in Washington’s posh Georgetown neighborhood at a private residence, where wealthy donors are able to donate up to $38,500. The president swung up and down the West Coast last week raising money, and he will be back on the road next week for a campaign event in St. Louis as the FEC’s fourth-quarter begins.

CBS News’s White House correspondent Mark Knoller -- an unofficial record keeper for all things presidential through numerous administrations -- says Obama has done 52 fundraisers this year, of which 48 were for the Obama Victory Fund, which benefits both the Campaign and the DNC.

“The message that's he’s been bringing to his supporters in campaign events is really very similar to the message that he is delivering in general about where he wants the country to go, the steps we need to take to get it there, the challenges we face, which remain substantial, and the need to keep working, to keep pushing forward to achieve the goals that he set,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Friday.

Asked if the president would be able to replicate during his 2012 re-election bid the support he drew from small donors in 2008, his spokesman said, “My understanding just from what I’ve read in the press is that he’s getting very broad support from all over the country . . . in small and big ways.”

Not that many months ago, the Obama campaign emailed requests for $5 donations from people on lists of supporters and volunteers. The campaign emailed messages to sell coffee mugs with Obama’s birth certificate printed on them; Obama T-shirts; and raffle entries to eat dinner with the president. The dinner appeal proved successful in the second quarter, attracting plenty of attention in the media.

Small-dollar donors are valued by campaigns because the tallies demonstrate grass-roots backing, and the individuals donating small amounts can give multiple times without hitting federal contribution limits. Donations of $200 or less do not have to be reported in detail to the FEC. The campaign trimmed its email entreaties this week to $3.

“I enjoy talking about fundraising deadlines as much as I imagine you enjoy hearing about them. But this Friday's deadline is important,” the president wrote his supporters in an email this week. “It's a chance for us to prove how we're different from any campaign in politics: We rely on ordinary Americans giving what they can -- one grassroots donation at a time.”

Obama described his re-election campaign as an opportunity for “citizens to organize and change the course of history.”

“Please donate $3 or more today,” the president urged. “I'll be calling some grassroots donors like you by phone this week, so I can say thank you. And if I don't call you, there's a chance I'll see you at dinner with three other supporters sometime soon. Even if I don't get to thank you personally, every single donation counts.”