I used to agree with Ian but more and more I'm coming around to Mark's way of thinking.
A lot of it is due to my girlfriend, who had a 'come to Jesus' meeting with me about the benefits of winning people over to your side versus antagonizing them with outlandish protests. She understands how this works pretty well, having a degree in psychology and being the owner of a coffee shop in a rural Mississippi town. She was involved in getting beer made legal there for the first time in the town's history.
Sure, the old ladies yelling 'you damn kids' are annoying, but if you keep pissing them off, you'll never get anything accomplished. People like that are the busy bodies, and they usually know the key players in an area and can galvanize a lot of resentment against you in a hurry. If you gradually build up support, you can start to get enough people on your side to turn the tide, like this small town did. Sure, the politicos sabotaged the bill and restricted where you could sell beer, but had people just started drinking beer on the courthouse lawn you'd had locals up in arms against you.