PEEKSKILL - Kieran Michael Lalor says he wants to send Rep. John Hall "back to Woodstock" come 2008.

In announcing his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 19th Congressional District race, Lalor today said the freshman Democrat "wants to spend your glorious tax dollars on hippies.

"When it comes to the people in Peekskill, I'm one of them. We can't have a leader that is out of touch with 80 to 90 percent of the people here."

Lalor, a 31-year-old Iraq war veteran, is seeking to represent a district that covers Putnam County and parts of Westchester, Dutchess, Rockland and Orange counties. He has yet to finalize his run by filing paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission, but said he will do so this week.

Lalor said Hall was a backer of bill that contained a controversial $1 million earmark to build a Woodstock festival museum. It was yanked from a Senate appropriations bill earlier this year.

He described himself as a follower of "Ronald Reagan's School of Conservatism" and said Hall has no relationship with the traditionally Republican district.

"I'm just like everybody else," Lalor said. "I don't owe any favors to anybody."

Lalor, who served in the Marine Corps, said he will make national security a top priority in his campaign, citing it as the pressing item at "family dinner table discussions" in the district.

The National Republican Congressional Committee has listed Hall's seat as one of many key districts it hopes to recapture in 2008. Hall won the seat in 2006 with 51 percent of the vote, and has raised over $1 million for his re-election bid, according to Federal Election Commission reports.

The National Republican Congressional Committee had listed Katonah businessman Andrew Saul as its top recruit to challenge Hall, but the multimillionaire pulled out last week, citing personal reasons.