As a case-study in blog activism, let's take a look at the satire webcast: The Western North Carolina News Network. (WNCNN)

WNCNN started in 2006 as a creative way to fight against the political machine of a local Republican heavy-weight: Congressman Charles Taylor.

Bloggers didn't only write about how unfair the media was to Taylor's Democratic opponent, Heath Shuler; they also decided to produce their own commercials and reports, then post them to YouTube.

WNCNN was the brain-child of "Screwy Hoolie" of the blog ScrutinyHooligans, but several other bloggers joined him - such as Thesyntaxofthings and Patgobyebye. (ON EDIT: I also acted in a few of them.)

These videos were created independently of any campaign, and with a budget of zero dollars and zero cents. The cameras were borrowed, the actors were free, the editor learned how to use the software on his laptop as he went along, and, most of the dialog was ad-libbed.

The series was a hit locally. It was viewed by thousands of people thanks to bloggers cross-posting to videos they liked. Group blogs and social networks like BlueNC and Reddit also helped spread the word to an ever-widening audience.

WNCNN got local mainstream media attention, helped educate voters, and, ate up Taylor's resources because his staff had to view the videos and somehow respond.

After Shuler's victory, the creators of WNCNN took a well-deserved break. But now they're back. Here is a sample of a recent report:

They aren't The Daily Show - but so what? Keep in mind the next national election is still twenty months away and the producers are miles ahead of where they started in 2006. The clips are shorter and to the point, the main characters are more developed, and, the humor has improved.

No doubt, by November 2008, WNCNN will be an established counter-media outlet.

And the true beauty of all this is it's totally independent of a campaign.

As someone who studies blog activism, I've observed the most effective campaigners aren't the A-listers. Instead, they are informal blog networks that use their collective knowledge of emerging media platforms to experiment on behalf of causes they feel passionate about.

So how should a candidate who wants to take advantage of the net-roots go about harnessing this power?

Campaign managers need to identify, and develop relationships with, local bloggers early.

Let's go over that last sentence again, with emphasis added: Campaign managers need to identify, and develop relationships with, local bloggers early.

How to develop those relationships will the next topic for this series.