WASHINGTON – Several groups challenging political ad limits in the new campaign finance law have concluded a court ruling lets them run advertisements targeting members of Congress. One may put it to the test as early as this week.

The Club for Growth plans to start airing a second batch of ads Thursday pressing two Republican senators, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Ohio’s George Voinovich, to support President Bush’s tax-cut package, if congressional negotiations fail to produce a favorable outcome.

“We think a reasonable reading [of the ruling] is that they’re not covered by this new language and also that it’s so far away from the election – as far as far as I know Voinovich doesn’t have an opponent – so it would be hard to make the case that we’re trying to influence an election when no one’s running against him,” Club executive director David Keating said. The group ran its first ads before the court ruling.