GOP faces digital divide

President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies have opened up a big advantage over Republicans when it comes to high-tech voter targeting. And this year conservatives are making an ambitious push to change that ahead of the 2012 election.

The Republican National Committee and the Koch brothers are spending millions on dueling voter file projects and a tea party group is set to unveil a new voter database platform March 29. Yet, even as Republican and conservative groups are poised to spend millions ahead of Election Day on new efforts to catch up to Democratic data and technology to target likely voters, some conservatives say there might not be enough time to have an impact. One of the biggest challenges for the GOP this year, they fear, could be that when it comes to mobilizing volunteers, donors and voters, they are sitting on the wrong side of a digital divide.