Norton, JaneVoters “do not want the kind of big government spending that we’re seeing,” former Colorado Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton, a Republican running for U.S. Senate, proclaimed Saturday at a Grand Junction campaign stop, where she nabbed the endorsement of a key party colleague, state Senator Josh Penry, according to the Daily Sentinel.

Still, Norton has a long way to go before she can impress the likes of conservative pundit Michelle Malkin.

A Fox News regular and columnist who lives in Colorado Springs, Malkin blasts Norton in a blog post, calling her the sort of “milquestoast public official” who is muscling out “strong conservative” politicians, such as Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, an ardent opponent of illegal immigration.

She writes: “Conservatives have worked hard over the past year to rebuild after Big Government Republican John McCain’s defeat. But McCain isn’t going gently into that good night. In Colorado, McCain and his meddlers infuriated the state party by anointing” Norton as Democratic Senator Michael Bennet’s challenger.

Earlier this month, a Rasmussen Reports poll found that Norton’s chief challengers would defeat either Bennet or his opponent for the Democratic nomination, Andrew Romanoff, but by narrower margins than Norton.