where can i buy white page data, in ascii file format, for the united states?

Select Phone Pro CD's by infousa have the data you require.  While
this product is available in "one off" version, the annual
subscription update is quite expensive.

     http://www.infousa.com/

Select Phone is said to cover 115 million consumer names, addresses,
neighborhood, radius, etc in a database that can be exported in ASCII
format.  The CD's provided with Select Phone cover states and regions
on separate CD's so it is somewhat difficult to export the total
database but the features of regionalization are quite interesting and
valuable in another sense.

(you will need to copy and paste the following long URL)
   http://list.infousa.com/cgi-bin/abicgi/abicgi.pl?bas_session={bas_session}&bas_vendor=190000&bas_type=lc&bas_page=999&bas_action=directory_assist

(the shorlified version of the long URL is shown below)

   http://shorl.com/gerudotrabryga

Power Finder is said to cover 14 million business names etc....

A Canadian version also exists.

You can purchase the Select Phone Pro CD's without the annual
subscription updates for about USD 88.00 at a variety of outlets:

http://google.cnet.com/shopping/resellers/0-11596-311-6777903-0.html?tag=pt.google.select_phone

(the shorlified version of the long URL is shown below)

     http://shorl.com/hunadytrekale

Online searches are powerful but now exportable in my knowledge.

    http://www.ussearch.com/wlcs/application/commercewf?origin=home.jsp&event=link(home)&JSPBASECREATOR=07290759592002PUVYai3X9sUIX98tNrJjUCcJsr3CIC0hsD61djjLxZmB8340W1pb|-2949081106286826278/167838004/6/7501/7501/7502/7502/7501/-1|-8649708405002251283/167838013/6/7501/7501/7502/7502/7501/-1|1027954794944

(the shorlified version of the long URL is shown below)

     http://shorl.com/hafibruhujabo

I have had presonal experience with the Select Phone Pro CD and have
found it quite useful for directed marketing as well as for obtaining
information. My version is quite old at the moment but still serves
well for most searches.

If you require clarification of this information, please don't
hesitate to ask.

seedy

Excellent answer and thanks for the thorough detail!!!