The Republican National Committee (RNC) is filing suit to challenge campaign finance laws banning the use of soft money and coordination between candidates and the committee.

RNC Chairman Mike Duncan said Wednesday that the RNC will file two separate suits -- a challenge to the soft money ban in Washington federal court and the ban on coordination in the Louisiana district court.

Both provisions are part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform laws, and they have long been the root of soreness between many Republicans and the Arizona senator who was their presidential nominee.

Duncan noted that the committee can only spend $84,000 on state races, but the committee spent $19 million on trying to get McCain elected. In 2009, the committee will focus on races for the governorships in Virginia and New Jersey, he said.

“We need to be a national party, not just a federal party,” Duncan said.

Duncan’s move comes as he considers whether to try and run for another term as party chairman. Already a number of state chairmen are lining up to challenge him in the wake of back-to-back cycles that saw Republicans soundly defeated.

“Draft” movements on Facebook have been started on behalf of former Rep. Jim Nussle (Iowa) and recently defeated Sen. John Sununu (N.H.) and other draft movements are well underway for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele.

Duncan, when asked if the lawsuits were an effort to be proactive in the face of challengers, said he has a “day job,” and he is still focused on ongoing recounts and run-off elections like the Georgia Senate race where he said he has about 100 staffers working.

But, Duncan added, he has been in touch with members of the committee, of which he has been a member since 1992, and he is hearing their concerns and ideas before deciding whether to pursue another term.

Duncan stated that the lawsuits seek to right a wrong that has plagued the party and spawned the creation and popularity of third-party groups.

“Coordination is just really ridiculous,” Duncan said.

He argued that laws prohibiting the committee and candidates from coordinating their messages do not make sense. Duncan added that they see more corruption in unlimited contributions to third-party groups than corporations giving to the committee or candidates.

The Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act was challenged in the courts by one of Duncan’s fellow Kentuckians, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, but the Supreme Court ruled against McConnell and others, saying that money is not speech thus contributions are not protected by the First Amendment.