The RNC did not immediately respond to an interview request.

For its part, the DNC has launched a microtargeting pilot effort in six states using its new IT equipment, Self said. He declined to identify the states but said, "The changes we have made are making a direct impact."

Separately, Harold Ickes, deputy White House chief of staff for former President Bill Clinton, set up his own operation to maintain Democratic voter data. The Ickes organization has been providing data to America Votes, a Washington-based coalition of interest groups, for use in microtargeting efforts in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wyoming and Colorado that are independent of the DNC.

Daniel Castleman, a political data analyst at America Votes, said his organization -- which uses development and modeling tools from SPSS -- has been able to "surgically target" voters, especially in rural areas, where Democrats have traditionally had little success.

Julie Barko Germany, deputy director of the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet at George Washington University in Washington, called the midterm elections a test case for microtargeting. If it works, she added, its use will likely spread in 2008.