The Drudge Report, a news aggregation site started by Matt Drudge, has come to be known as the top source for breaking news on the web. The site enjoys millions of visitors, and a link from the Drudge Report can instantly fry unsuspecting servers, rendering sites unable to cope with the barrage of traffic.

The Drudge Report has had tremendous success in helping internet news junkies cut through the clutter and get directly to the hottest news of the moment. That being said, the site is heavy on national issues, which causes a lot of local stories to remain lost in the rough sea of online information.

There is good news, though, because Drudge like sites are beginning to flourish using a state based model. There is the Dead Pelican, for example, which serves the state of Louisiana as the top news aggregation site for state related news and issues.

The Dead Pelican is no small player, either. The site is already able to direct thousands of visits to any given webpage with a simple link, and traffic numbers appear to be climbing with each new day.

Today after speaking on a panel here at AFP’s Defending the Dream Summit, the editor for Colorado’s new Complete Colorado approached me about some ideas for integrating social media into the marketing plan for the site.

Like the Drudge Report and the Dead Pelican, Complete Colorado has editors constantly monitoring the news across the state waiting for top stories to cross the wires. It’s a great place to get breaking news stories, and I think the site holds much promise.

Are these state based sites based on the Drudge model going to be the next big wave in disseminating news on a local level? Only time will tell… but they sure are making some waves to date.