The Koch Brothers have been I agree mostly unknown, but they're working on that, as are their adversaries. Since the affair in Madison, I don't think they can be called unknown any more. This is the way the parties are preparing the ground for 2012. For the GOP And their supporters it's a decapitation strategy: stop donations to Democrats, stop likely Democrats registering to vote, and make it more difficult for Democrats to vote. For the Democrats, the strategy is simpler: just get the middle class angry enough to vote its interests in large numbers.
Rightly or wrongly, a lot of articles about semi-involved individuals are likely to become part of that battleground.