Are you a small business and frustrated with government? One of the best ways to get active and gain influence is to pay closer attention and get involved in local and state elections.

Here in Northeast Ohio, USA we have a very active set of bloggers who set up meetings with local political candidates, meet with them for an open question dialogue session and then blog about it and podcast it.

They do us all a great service by letting us get past the sometimes filtered media and attempt to get at direct answers to the tough questions. You may not always agree with their opinion but you have to admit this is a heck of a public service they provide.

Maybe you could emulate this process in your area, they have a website, check out Meet the Bloggers