John Edwards, all thumbs

With the 2008 election looming, Republicans are struggling to catch up to Democrat campaign efforts online, reports The Washington Post.

Nielsen/NetRatings figures show that John Edwards' site logged 690,000 visitors in March, meaning his numbers top combined visitors for the three leading Republican contenders: Rudy Giuliani at 297,000, Sen. John McCain at 258,000 and Mitt Romney at 76,000.

But no Republican candidate, combined visits or otherwise, comes close to topping Sen. Barack Obama's efforts on social networks like MySpace, YouTube, Facebook and his own My.BarackObama.com.

Candidates have even dipped into text messaging, a strategy that, while common overseas, only recently made its mark with Hillary's text-based campaign efforts.

Overall, Democrats have raised over $14 million online to Republicans' $6 million.

Some suggest the Democratic edge may stem from Republicans' tendency of sticking to the message, a philosophy that does not mesh with the fluid atmosphere of the user-generated web.