Liz Lauber

Liz Lauber, Todd Akin's 2010 GOP primary opponent, is challenging Akin to "step up" and support the candidacy of the tea party-approved candidate in the special election for New York's 23rd Congressional District. From the Arch City Chronicle:

I am running for Congress to put the economy first, return the Republican Party to one that embraces a less intrusive government, and offer solutions instead of just voting 'NO.'

I wholeheartedly support Doug Hoffman's bid for Congress because I believe he is a candidate who will stand for limited government, and respect his efforts to step-up-to-the-plate on behalf of the American people. The whole country is watching this race and the Tea Party movement is right to be driving support to him, even though he isn't the Republican Party's choice...

Dave Drebes has the details on Liz Lauber's economic policy platform over at The Arch City Chronicle. Lauber, a former Congressional staffer for Republican Congressmen Dick Armey and Christopher Cox, has outlines her free market proposals in the plan and doesn't have a lot of nice things to say about Obama or Democratic leaders.  She also doesn't mince words about the record of the GOP leaders from the Bush years.

And contrary to popular perception perpetuated by the elites in politics and media, these [tea party] protesters are not just angry at the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress; they don't trust the Republicans in Congress either. And why should they after seeing the runaway spending that was racked up under the former Republican-controlled Congress?

Politico has an interesting story this week about tea partiers taking on entrenched GOP incumbents with primary challengers in 2010. With rhetoric similar to we've been hearing from folks like Chuck Purgason and Liz Lauber, tea party-supported candidates are challenging establishment Republicans for "what they perceive as the GOP’s stubborn insistence on embracing candidates who don’t abide by a small government, anti-tax conservative philosophy."

Liz "Edgy Conservative" Lauber announced her campaign to challenge Todd Akin in next August's GOP primary for the 2nd Congressional District. Lauber previously worked for Dick Armey in the House, and Dick Armey's FreedomWorks astroturf organization (when it was called Citizens for a Sound Economy), and is promising to provide primary voters with a "clear choice" next fall.  As posted by the Post-Dispatch's Jake Wagman:

“My opponent won a narrow primary victory in 2000 and has not faced a tough general election campaign. After what will be ten years in office for my opponent, I intend to mount a competitive race to give voters a clear choice,” Lauber said in a news release. “Todd Akin calls himself a ‘conservative with a soft edge,’ and I consider myself ‘an edgy conservative.’”

Like Chuck Purgason, Lauber is hoping to capitalize on discontent with the GOP leadership in Washington.