Norton, JaneU.S. Senate candidate Jane Norton has been getting pounded by Democrats amid blog reports last week that she wants to abolish the U.S. Department of Education in an effort to shrink government.

The controversy seems to trace to one blog, Perlstalker’s Ramblings, which points to a Norton campaign stop in Alamosa attended by Tea Party activists.

“One thing I found especially interesting was that she felt that the federal Department of Education was part of the bloat that should be cut,” notes the blog, written by a self-described “Tea Party guy.” “Completely. It was her opinion that individual states should be responsible for education in the state and the federal government should stay out of it.”

Though Norton is not quoted directly by the blog, Dems have used it to accuse the Republican of a “far-right Tea Party agenda,” according to The Denver Post. Norton campaign manager Norm Cummings has declined to comment.

“We’re going to have more to say about this and other issues related to budgetary restraints and out-of-control spending after the first of the year,” he says. “It’s a holiday. Nobody cares.”

But current U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, Norton’s would-be opponent, does: “The Department of Education provides much-needed resources to local schools, student loans, and grants to kids who want to go to college. Eliminating the Department of Education is a step backwards, not forwards.”