Obama steps up attack on Chamber

"Tell the Bush crowd and the Chamber of Commerce: Stop stealing our democracy," the ad says.

Gillespie and Rove, both of whom say they are not formally connected to American Crossroads, bristled at the attacks during television appearances Sunday. Rove said on "Fox News Sunday" that there was "not one shred of evidence to back up that baseless lie" that foreign money was funding conservative campaigns.

"Don't accuse those who are playing by the rules of somehow doing something that is unethical or illegal," Gillespie said on "Face the Nation."

This year's record tide of spending has been fueled in part by a controversial Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which found that corporations could spend as much as they want on elections. Obama and Senate Democrats failed in their attempts to enact legislation that would have increased disclosure requirements for such spending and tightened restrictions on political activities by foreign-linked firms.

Democratic candidates have increasingly attacked Republicans such as Senate candidate Carly Fiorina of California for allegedly backing policies that encourage U.S. employers to move jobs to cheaper overseas labor markets.

The party has also seized on a report last week by ThinkProgress, an arm of the liberal Center for American Progress, documenting the Chamber's ties to "AmChams" and other overseas business groups that pay dues to the U.S.-based group. The report said the Chamber funds U.S. political activities out of the same account that collects foreign dues, and raised the possibility that the money could be unlawfully commingled.

Chamber officials say the group collects about $100,000 in dues from overseas affiliates and that the money is cordoned off for use on "international programs." The business lobby has declined to release further details, citing confidentiality rules governing nonprofits.

Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman, said Obama and other administration officials are not accusing the Chamber of illegality nor calling for an investigation into its campaign spending. He also acknowledged that the White House has no specific evidence that the Chamber is using foreign money in U.S. elections.

"The president is making a disclosure argument," Earnest said. "He's just saying for the good of democracy the Chamber should disclose where it is getting its money and how it is financing these ads, and that all organizations should."

Asked if the White House believes midterm voters care about this issue, Earnest said "it goes to a larger point."

"You have Republicans in Congress standing up for corporate interests to block the president's agenda," he said. "And I think voters do care that some of the same corporate interests are funding these ads attacking Democrats."

Legal experts from both parties say the prohibition against foreign funding in U.S. elections is clear, and noted that Democrats have turned up no hard evidence that the Chamber is violating that ban.

But advocates of stronger campaign-finance regulations also said there is little apparent policing of the restrictions either by the FEC or the Internal Revenue Service.

"It's very clear that current laws are not up to ensuring that this doesn't happen," said Meredith McGehee, policy director at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. "It's one of the reasons that you'll continue to see these types of accusations, which are really one of the most volatile accusations you can make during an election."

eggend@washpost.com wilsons@washpost.com Staff writers Nia-Malika Henderson in Philadelphia and Carol D. Leonnig in Washington contributed to this report.