Jane Norton is now officially a Republican candidate for Colorado’s 2010 U.S. Senate race, in which Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet is defending the seat to which he was appointed in January.

“I’m running for the United States Senate for one simple reason: the federal government is out of control,” Norton said in a video posted on her campaign Web site.

Norton, who was elected in 2002 to a four-year term as Colorado’s lieutenant governor, planned formal announcement stops Tuesday in Denver, Colorado Springs and Grand Junction.