By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 13, 2008 2:01 PM

Recognizing the need to be competitive in upcoming governors' contests, the Republican National Committee announced it would go to court for the right to finance state races.

The federal lawsuit would constitute a significant challenge to the landmark campaign finance legislation co-authored by the party's 2008 presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain.

RNC Chairman Robert M. Duncan said the law "infringes on the First Amendment's core: political speech and association. The RNC must have the ability to support state candidates, coordinate expenditures with our candidates, and truly engage in political activity on a national level."

In a suit filed in the District, the RNC and the California Republican Party are challenging the federal campaign finance law that was sponsored by McCain and Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), restrictions on the use of so-called "soft money." Under McCain-Feingold, the RNC is prohibited from raising and spending unregulated soft money and many of the activities of state political parties, such as voter registration and get-out-the-vote activities, are regulated by federal law.

A separate suit filed in Louisiana challenges the limits on coordinated expenditures.

Fred Wertheimer, president of the campaign finance advocacy group Democracy 21, said the lawsuits were gambling on the possibility that the two new justices on the U.S. Supreme Court would reverse earlier rulings in which they declared the McCain-Feingold provisions constitutional.

"They're trying to see if two new justices on the Supreme Court can change the way this decision came down," Wertheimer said. "Nothing else has changed. There is no constitutional basis for that decision being reversed."

Duncan told the Associated Press that he wants to be able to raise large amounts for the party's candidates for governor in Virginia and New Jersey.