Buried at the bottom of this story on the Fox News debate mess is this fascinating account of the effect local grassroots had on getting the debate cancelled:

David Lublin, an American University political scientist, said the debate about the debate was about more than just Fox: It was another way to fire up the local grass roots. “Bloggers are huge believers in listening to local people,” Lublin said, “It’s fairly unusual for local people to say, ‘Do not hold a presidential debate in our arena,’ ” he said, referring to the Carson City Democratic Central Committee, which voted overwhelmingly to condemn the Fox debate. Chris Wicker, chairman of the Washoe County Democratic Party, said that while Nevada county chairmen viewed the debate as an opportunity, local rank-and-file Democrats disagreed — vigorously. Wicker said he was inundated from the outset with e-mails critical of the partnership. “People wanted to know why we would play ball with Fox and give them this varnish of legitimacy,” he said. “And they weren’t just the activists.” The opposition included longtime precinct captains and party volunteers who threatened to step down from their posts and withdraw their support for the county party, Wicker said. If true, then online liberals have successfully gotten the message out to party regulars: Politics isn’t just about beating Republicans — it’s about beating their messengers, too.

I've said a million times that I'm not a blog triumphalist. It's just a medium to educate and organize progressive activists. The real work is done on the ground. That's why the conservative blogosphere is considered a joke by the Republican establishment -- they're all talk, no action. They have their uses, of course, but ultimately, they bring nothing to the table not already offered by Fox News or Rush Limbaugh.

On our own, bloggers can do little. But by educating and motivating grassroots activists, we can truly help effect change. The real change is on the ground -- the heroes of this battle were those Democrats busting their ass for their party -- the precinct captains and party volunteers. Not only are they giving their all to build their local party, but they are now savvy enough to use the influence their efforts have earned to pull their clueless leadership in the right direction.

This is what the netroots is all about -- educating, motivating, and inspiring people to turn off their computers and become grassroots activists. The more of us do that, the bigger our influence in this process will be.