And now a word about the sponsors

By Sasha Issenberg, Globe Staff

In a recent column for Townhall.com, James Bopp, Jr. -- an adviser to Mitt Romney and free-speech activist -- unveiled a new line of attack against Fred Thompson: reminding voters of his support for campaign-finance reform by attaching the fomer Tennessee senator's name to a signature piece of legislation, referring to it as "McCain-Feingold-Thompson."

The bill, which was initially introduced in 1995 and signed into law in 2002, has been unpopular among conservative interest groups galled by its restrictions on election-time advertising. Thompson's role as a key early supporter -- one of a handful of Senate Republicans who joined McCain and an overwhelming majority of Democrats in the chamber -- is an issue where Romney could have an opening to turn the tables on Thompson and accuse him of insufficient right-wing orthodoxy.

In 2000, Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran informed McCain he would vote for the bill -- overshadowing Thompson as the most prominent conservative Southerner on the team. In early 2001, Thompson jokingly complained to McCain about the new references to "McCain-Feingold-Cochran," according to "Citizen McCain," Elizabeth Drew's book-length account of the legislative campaign told from the Arizonan's perspective.

"I think I was the third person to sign onto this bill," Thomson told McCain. "Now that it's achieved such popularity, John, I'd like my name mentioned more often."

"It will be referred to as 'the Thompson bill' from now on," McCain replied.

Now that Thompson has achieved more popularity than McCain among Republican primary voters, it seems likely Romney will be referring to it as "the Thompson bill," as well.