You're both right.
Money greases a lot of wheels in politics, but I've seen enough grassroots successes in politics, particularly at the local level, that one should not discount this kind of activism.
I watched the California recall effort at close range, and this was largely engineered by a few small groups and a talk radio station. Money came into it eventually of course, but wasn't the main driver. The California Republican Party didn't want to touch it with a ten-foot pole until they saw which way the parade was headed. There are lots of other examples, too.