Jim Tedisco, the Republican candidate in the March 31 special election for Kirsten Gillibrand's former House seat, is upping his populist appeal against the AIG bonuses: He's not just endorsing the 90% bonus tax, but he's calling for Tim Geithner to be fired -- and challenging his Democratic opponent Scott Murphy to join him.

Murphy has responded with a press release declaring that he's ideally for a 100% tax on the AIG bonuses -- though he would have voted for the 90% tax, too.

When asked about Tedisco's call for sacking Geithner, Murphy spokesman Ryan Rudominer told TPM: "Scott trusts President Obama's judgment. Tedisco is just trying to distract from saying no to creating or saving 76,000 jobs Upstate and the largest middle class tax cut in history."

Rudominer is referring here to the stimulus bill, which Tedisco said on Monday he would have opposed. And since Tuesday, Tedisco has been using the stimulus bill as a foothold to accuse Murphy of supporting the bonuses.