Don’t discount the effects of local stories posted here. We had an afternoon local talk show guy, he would stick to local issues mostly and discuss national issues on a slow day. I traded a few emails with the guy. I was pretty certain he read local articles with the comments here, so I just asked him and he said “absolutely, I read Free Republic.” Denied being a poster, just a lurker.
I can understand that. I lurked for many years before I joined.
But once I joined, I never looked back!