WASHINGTON — Sen. Mitch McConnell met Wednesday with lawyers and interest groups that vowed to attack campaign finance reform in federal court if the legislation makes it through Congress and is signed into law by President Bush.

        Two days after the Senate approved the first major changes to campaign finance law since 1974, the Kentucky Republican, the leading critic of the bill, said he would be a plaintiff in a lawsuit if one were ultimately filed.

        The Senate bill, sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russell Feingold, D-Wis., would ban unlimited and largely unregulated “soft money” donations to political parties, and bar corporations, labor unions and interest groups from advertising for or against candidates 30 days before a primary and 60 days before a general election.

        “McCain-Feingold is a target-rich environment for challenges in court,” Mr. McConnell said.

        Representatives from nine interest groups, ranging from the Christian Coalition to the American Civil Liberties Union, applauded Mr. McConnell's decade-long opposition to reform and likely will join him in any litigation.

        In a discussion of legal strategy, only part of which was open to the news media, lawyers said the two major provisions of the bill are ripe for constitutional challenges.

        The Supreme Court has ruled individuals should be allowed to spend as much of their own money as they like on political speech, but has agreed federal contribution limits to candidates are appropriate to deter corruption.

        The court also has found individuals, political parties and interest groups can spend unlimited amounts on political advertising as long as they do not expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate.

        James Bopp Jr., general counsel at the James Madison Center for Free Speech, a conservative public-policy group, said the McCain-Feingold bill would prohibit interest groups from even mentioning a candidate's vote on legislation in the days and months before an election. “They have a right to participate in our democratic process,” he said.

        Another case could be made against the McCain-Feingold provision that increases individual contribution limits — up to $6,000 — for candidates running against wealthy, self-financed opponents. The provision, written in part by Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, could discriminate against candidates in other races who are forced to follow lower contribution limits.

        Mr. McConnell said he is hopeful the reform bill will crumble in the House, but wants to be prepared to respond in court. He noted 41 senators voted Monday against McCain-Feingold, enough to fuel a filibuster if the bill were changed by the House and sent back to the Senate for review. It also would be enough to sustain a veto.

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