Here’s what it is: leaders of the GOP will send out canned letters to select constituents in key media markets across the country, and these constituents will then turn around and e-mail them to the “letters to the editor” section of various local newspapers and magazines as well national publications. Many of these media outlets are pretty gullible and will print these astroturf letters routinely, and end up being nothing more than unpaid advertisers for the Republican party. The Indianapolis Star has one in it’s pages nearly every day, because, well, they aren’t the brightest bulbs in the socket.
But if you can find the letters ahead of time, like this blogger has, you can have fun with Google and spot the letters in papers all over the country.