As a result, the GOP campaign apparatus today has virtually nothing in place to raise money on par with ActBlue. Turk promises me that will soon change. A revamped ABC PAC, Turk writes, will include “every Republican candidate regardless of ideological lean, the ability for bloggers to create their own slates (individually or through groups like Rightroots), and tools to promote your slate on your site (including a real-time total).” All those bells and whistles would be significant advances for the GOP.

But will the if-you-build-it-they-will-come approach work?

Online consultant and former congressional aide David All thinks that if done correctly, a conservative version of ActBlue could be effective. In fact, All said that if someone wants to put up the money, he’ll oversee its development. So far, not surprisingly, he hasn’t had any takers.

Where does this leave conservatives in the short term? Joe Trippi, the mastermind behind Howard Dean’s online success, thinks it’ll be years before conservatives turn the corner and catch up to liberals in terms of online activism and fundraising -- particularly because left-leaning Democrats are off to such a strong start. But Trippi’s confident it will eventually happen, just as conservatives mastered direct mail and took over talk radio. “There’s no doubt in my mind Republicans will figure out how to become a powerhouse on the Internet,” he told me.

Surprisingly, Trippi actually drew his inspiration from Sen. John McCain’s online outreach in 2000. And even today, he gives the Republican Party credit for its online get-out-the-vote effort. However, the top-down approach advocated by many Republican campaigns is destined to fail.

Liberals proved that a trickle-up strategy -- focusing on House and Senate races in 2006 -- is a more effective way to build a steady flow of online funding. Don’t get me wrong, Sen. Barack Obama’s $6.9 million haul from online donations is impressive. But it’s also a result of having already convinced people that giving money online can make a difference.

Of course, the wildcard in all of this is the candidates themselves -- and the mainstream media’s coverage of them. It’s a lot easier for Obama to raise money online when he’s treated like a rock star on TV. Meanwhile, with many conservatives still less than sold on any of the current crop of Republican candidates, there’s little incentive to give them money at all. It all adds up to the likelihood that liberals will maintain their overwhelming advantage in online fundraising for a long time to come.