Two lady soldiers who returned from military service, Heidi Theiss and Kit Jarrell, became powerful bloggers. They took up many issues, but one of their most successful efforts seeks to raise public awareness about our national vulnerability to illegal immigration. To this end they launched Guard The Borders, this weblog devoted to news about border issues. Most importantly, they organized a coalition of many weblogs (see the right sidebar) to carry syndicated articles, or “blogbursts,” written by members of the coalition, to reach a very extensive audience.

This and similar grassroots efforts were noted in today’s Wall Street Journal Online:

How Conservatives Enhanced Online Voice
Talk Radio Blends With Blog Postings To Boost Message
By JUNE KRONHOLZ and AMY SCHATZ

Political activism on the Internet — and in the so-called blogosphere, in particular — has long been considered a liberal stronghold. But conservative bloggers show increasing signs of their own coming of age.

They took a major leap forward by playing a central role in scuttling the Senate immigration bill. Meanwhile, many of the most popular talk-radio hosts are now posting on blogs, and the frequent collaboration of the two media is creating a unified conservative voice that is likely to be an important factor in the 2008 elections….

But the immigration bill marked the first time conservative Web logs could claim to have targeted and derailed a major piece of legislation. The triumph underscored their increasing influence and signaled that the balance of online power may be evening out in the political arena.

The confluence of blogs and conservatives’ dominance on radio is an especially potent mix….

Historically, Republican bloggers haven’t generated the same kind of Internet traffic as liberal writers, even though conservatives have dominated talk radio. The defeat of the immigration bill suggests that may be changing and illustrates the tactics that bloggers could use to influence the 2008 campaign.

By endlessly picking through the evolving immigration legislation, bloggers kept up a steady stream of material for each other and their readers. Talk-radio-show hosts relied on the bloggers for material, but so did voters, who swamped Senate offices with calls and faxes at the urging of conservative Web sites….

Hooray for us!

Cross-posted from ADMC