Adam Brickley, the man who led the charge to draft Sarah Palin onto the Republican ticket in 2008, has begun a campaign to draft conservative author Amity Shlaes to run against Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in New York.

“The GOP needs a high profile opponent who will force Gillibrand to explain herself – and given her record we don’t think she can,” Brickley writes on his website. “The only question is who can do this while raising the money to compete in expensive New York.”

Brickley believes that Shlaes, the author of The Forgotten Man, is the ideal candidate to take on Gillibrand. “She is the very antithesis of Sen. Gillibrand, and she has a huge national following that could fund an insurgent campaign with small donations… Hence, we have absolutely no doubt that her legions of devoted fans and readers could fund a gargantuan campaign without breaking a sweat, giving her more than enough ammo to both win the GOP nomination and bury Gillibrand under a hail of advertising.”

Gillibrand, who was appointed to serve out the remainder of Hillary Clinton’s term in the Senate, easily won a special election against Republican candidate Joe DioGuardi last year. She is up again in 2012, but given Gillibrand’s rising approval ratings and the moribund state of the New York GOP, for the moment her seat seems safe.

According to Brickley, all that could change if Shlaes decides to run. “The Dems may have thought they had this one locked up – but they’re not prepared for a surprise challenge,” he argues. “If we start this ball rolling now – I have little doubt that we can make Amity Shlaes the next Senator from New York.”

Former Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq spokesman Dan Senor is also rumored to be interested in running for the seat.