While the country's biggest banks have taken much of the blame for the economic crisis, the fate of the Obama administration's efforts to overhaul regulation of the financial industry could rest in the hands of thousands of small local banks, which have remained out of the national spotlight, according to a July 28 Washington Post article.

The country's 8,000 community banks are a powerful lobbying force, and no one knows that better than the nation's largest financial firms, most of which oppose the creation of an agency to oversee consumer products ranging from mortgages to credit cards. Wall Street firms might have millions of dollars to spend on Washington lobbyists and public relations campaigns, but these companies possess neither the strong reputation nor the grass-roots reach of community banks.

Community bankers have recently begun to flex their muscles. They have written thousands of letters to lawmakers, questioning the creation of another federal regulator. They have written newspaper op-eds in Iowa and letters to the editor in Oklahoma. In North Carolina, a recent newsletter from the state bankers association urged members to "use the August congressional recess period to make the case that the Consumer Financial Protection Agency is wrong." It encouraged them to invite lawmakers to their banks, ask employees to send letters to Congress and reach out to local media and business groups.