Finally, Sen. Barbara Boxer’s camp responded to Chuck DeVore’s teasing with his latest video parody set to the tune of a Don Henley song, “All She Wants to do is Tax, Tax, Tax.”

“He seems to spend a lot of time writing song lyrics. Is he running for senate or a Grammy nomination?” Boxer spokeswoman Rose Kapolczynski said, tongue firmly in cheek. “On taxes, Sen. Boxer has a strong record of support for middle-class tax cuts throughout her career. And she has introduced bills this year to provide a tax credit for self-employed people who pay their own healthcare premiums, to increase the tax credit for alternative fuel vehicles and a bill to increase the childcare tax credit. The economic recovery bill, which she strongly supported, included more than $200 billion in tax cuts, so while Chuck DeVore is writing song lyrics she is working for tax cuts in Washington.”

Ooohhh snap! Not bad. That was Friday.

Today, the Republican senatorial challenger responded.

“That’s an interesting observation from a senator who has written a few books while a senator, including a novel that was written a few years after my novel. Oh, and by the way, her sales figures are weaker than my own [on Amazon.com],” DeVore said, referring to his novel “China Attacks” vs. Boxer’s “A Time to Run: A Novel.”

DeVore also noted Boxer has a sequel to that novel due out this summer and that she has written a couple of non-fiction books.

“So I guess she’s been very busy. While I’ve been writing an occasional parody song she’s well on her way on to her next career as the great American novelist. I guess she’s looking forward to when she’s not in the senate anymore,” DeVore added.

Hoo boy! Is it getting hot in here? This all started when DeVore put out a video poking fun of President Obama set to the tune of “The Boys of Summer.” You can see that here.

DeVore also challenged Boxer’s tax-cut claim, saying her support for cap-and-trade credits will lead to an increase in taxes without any reduction in pollution. He makes the argument that the better-off and more powerful companies will use their influence to dodge their responsibilities, leaving the burden on less clout-heavy companies and the taxpayer. Instead, he favors a sort-of flat tax for polluters. Let them all pay the same rate for emissions.

This tit-for-tat between DeVore and Boxer is patty cake compared to the nuclear showdown expected as DeVore rolls out his next video on Wednesday as part of the statwide tax protests known as Tea Parties. His new-media director Justin Hart is hard at work setting DeVore’s lyrics to Henley’s “All She Wants to do is Dance,” with images of Boxer. This time they booked time in a professional studio owned by a relative in Sacramento. Again, Hart will sing and once again, he’ll throw it up online as bait for a lawsuit from Henley, which he hopes will propel his burgeoning senate run into the national spotlight.

Your move, Henley. So far, his lawyers haven’t returned my message for comment…

Update: Apparently I didn’t do the greatest job explaining DeVore’s position on the cap-and-trade issue. He e-mailed me a more detailed policy on the issue:

If you want to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the most efficient way to do so is with a carbon dioxide emissions tax — it’s transparent and easy to account for costs. Cap and trade is easy to manipulate and costs are hard to see — it’s opaque. I favor neither, but the carbon tax is the most effective and intellectually honest way to accomplish carbon emission reductions — for that reason, most politicians fear it because it is too easy for voters to understand the added costs.

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