US Senate candidate Liz Cheney speaks to voters during a Republican and Tea Party gathering in Emblem, Wyoming

Liz Cheney, the former American vice-president's daughter is set to orchestrate an all-out assault on Washington – to rid Capitol Hill of the "scourge of Barack Obama".

She is spearheading a campaign to end "impending socialism" and "the grasping hand" of big government.

It is still early days for the 46-year-old in the race for the 2014 Senate, but Ms Cheney – pictured below, addressing a meeting of the Big Horn Basin branch of the Tea Party – is breathing conservative fire and warning that America is facing "a moment of decision".

"We will not be able to save this great nation unless every one of us dedicates ourselves to standing up and pushing back," she said to cheers.

Ms Cheney, who is married but retains her maiden name, has a keen ear for her rural audience and their grievances – ObamaCare, taxation and regulation – all of which she checks off one by one, to wild applause.

"Who cares if they say you are an obstructionist? You say, 'That's right, I'm obstructing because I'm a patriot'."

On foreign policy, Ms Cheney unapologetically carries forward the neo-conservative doctrines of her father.

"This president came into office, I believe, intending to weaken the nation," she says, tapping into the nastier side of the right's caricature of Mr Obama as a Muslim and a traitor. "You only have to turn on your TV set and see what is happening in places like Egypt and Syria to know that is the result when America is weak," she said. "America's strength and America's fighting men and women are the best guarantors of peace and security that the world has ever known."

Although born into politics, Ms Cheney has never run for elected office.

She has quickly discovered the rougher side of the fight, being labelled a "carpetbagger" by opponents who say she moved back to Wyoming three years ago with her husband, a Washington lawyer, and five children only to lay the groundwork for her political ambitions.

Ms Cheney describes herself as a "fourth-generation Wyomingite," but glosses over her own career as an international development lawyer for the World Bank.

While the polls suggest she faces a tough fight – incumbents have a long track record of winning in Wyoming – Ms Cheney still has plenty going for her.

FUNDRAISING

She has name recognition, both from her family and her work on Fox News television; she has her father's formidable fundraising network; and an opponent – Senator Mike Enzi – who has 18 unremarkable years in office and is seen as ripe for plucking.

There can be no doubting her conservative lineage and Tea Party bona fides, which have some on the right of the Republican party already speculating about her as a possible vice-presidential candidate – "a Sarah Palin with brains" as one put it.

But that is all – possibly – in the future. For now, Ms Cheney says she has eyes only for Wyoming – and for storming Washington. (© Daily Telegraph, London)

Irish Independent