Two articles on the rising influence of the net and blogs on local politics:

• Ron Fournier:
  

  Frustrated by government and empowered by technology, Americans are filling needs and fighting causes through grass-roots organizations they built themselves – some sophisticated, others quaintly ad hoc. This is the era of people-driven politics.

  People are just beginning to realize how much power they have,” said Chris Kofinis, a Democratic consultant who specializes in grass-roots organizing via the Internet.

• Greg Borowski:
  

  Now, with Wisconsin on the eve of a major campaign year, state candidates will be confronted for the first time with a growing network of political blogs, many on the feisty side.
  Even avid bloggers acknowledge that when it comes to reaching voters, particularly undecided ones, their power pales in comparison to newspapers and the rest of the mainstream media (The MSM in bloghand).

I think Borowski overstate’s the MSM’s influence. One must keep in mind the general population’s views of mainstream media (typically, not great, largely, I think due to the often cozy relationship between big media and big politics) and the small number of people who actually vote.

Change will occur, but it will be local and net driven. Perhaps in future decades, the grassroots activism will make a difference on the state and national scene.