GOP Campaign Arm Missing Cash

"That's the last time we're aware of an audit," he said.

Insular places with their own subcultures, party campaign committees have in the past decade become multimillion-dollar enterprises. The NRCC, for instance, has raised $630 million over seven years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Roger Chiang, a staffer in charge of fundraising for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, pleaded guilty in 2005 to embezzling more than $360,000. A staffer for the campaign committee of House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) pleaded guilty in 2003 to stealing more than $617,000 from campaign accounts.

But the NRCC case has many in the GOP concerned because Ward has overseen the finances of so many Republicans.

The investigation into the NRCC's finances is another in a series of blows to House Republicans. The NRCC, for the first time in any political observer's memory, raised less money in 2007 than its counterpart, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The Democrats raised $67 million to $49 million for the Republicans.

At the end of January, the DCCC had more than $35 million cash in its accounts to the NRCC's $6.4 million.

washingtonpost.com staff writer Ben Pershing contributed to this article.