Lamar Smith should win easily in next week’s Republican primary, but the Internet is making the Texas congressman’s reelection campaign a little more difficult.

Smith became persona non grata online last year thanks to his sponsorship of the SOPA, the draconian anti-piracy bill that was finally slain by Internet backlash in January.

Now, a few upstanding members of the online community are pooling their resources to become political players deep in the heart of Texas’s 21st Congressional district. On Monday, Test PAC, the brainchild of some angry Redditors, made a small ad buy in Smith’s district, which includes parts of Austin and San Antonio.

Here’s the ad they ran:

But Test PAC’s founders aren’t the only crusaders taking aim at Lamar Smith; Ben Huh, the creative force behind the I Can Haz Cheezburger media conglomerate, bankrolled a pair of billboards in the San Antonio area through a group called Fight for the Future.

2012 will be Lamar Smith’s fourteenth congressional election and he tends to win big. The fledgling opposition doesn’t pose much of a threat to Smith this time around, but it does send an important message to politicians at every level.

For the first time, internet communities are mobilizing and lobbying for their pet cause (online freedom) in the real world. And though this election cycle likely won’t be influenced much by groups like Test PAC, the internet is transforming into an efficient grassroots lobbying platform that can compete with the moneyed interests that dominate the electoral process.

So, who’s ready for /b/PAC?

Lamar Smith should win easily in next week’s Republican primary, but the internet is making the Texas congressman’s reelection campaign a little more difficult.

Smith became a persona non grata online thanks to his sponsorship of the SOPA, the draconian anti-piracy bill that was killed by internet backlash in January.

Now, a few upstanding members of the online community are pooling their resources to become political players deep in the heart of Texas’s 21st Congressional district.